Roughly 10% of Microsoft employees said to be iPhone owners
Although it's no secret that members of Microsoft's leadership frown upon employees who choose an Apple iPhone over one running the company's own Windows Mobile operating system, approximately 1 in 10 still veer towards the forbidden fruit and sometimes go to great lengths to conceal them on the job.
In a lengthy profile on the perils of being an iPhone user at Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal cites two people familiar with the matter in saying that nearly 10,000 iPhone users were regularly accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year, representing roughly 10% of the company's global headcount.
The trend at Microsoft has flourished in the face of chief executive Steve Ballmer, who has a long track record of making inflammatory remarks about the Apple handset and expressing his displeasure with staffers who use one. Perhaps the most infamous example of this came last September during a private company meeting when he caught an employee using an iPhone to snap a photo of his entrance.
Ballmer grabbed the iPhone from the employee, made some remarks as the crowd booed, then placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it before walking away. During his ensuing presentation, the Microsoft chief again turned his attention to the employee with a few more teasing remarks.
In yet another sign that Microsoft was determined to curb iPhone adoption amongst its own kind, the Journal notes that the company "in early 2009 modified its corporate cellphone policy to only reimburse service fees for employees using phones that run on Windows Phone software." The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant would later claim the move was "part of a broader cost-cutting plan."
Still, many employees are unwilling to sacrifice their iPhone and regularly adopt measures to hide their handsets when in the presence of the company's top brass, according to the Journal. "While rank-and-file workers tend to use the iPhone openly around peers, some conceal them within sight of more senior executives.," the paper reports. "One Microsoft worker said he knows several colleagues who try to disguise their iPhones with cases that make them look more like generic handsets."
Ballmer laughs off the iPhone in 2007.
"Maybe once a year I'm in a meeting with Steve Ballmer," that employee said. "It doesn't matter who's calling, I'm not answering my phone."
In a lengthy profile on the perils of being an iPhone user at Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal cites two people familiar with the matter in saying that nearly 10,000 iPhone users were regularly accessing the Microsoft employee email system last year, representing roughly 10% of the company's global headcount.
The trend at Microsoft has flourished in the face of chief executive Steve Ballmer, who has a long track record of making inflammatory remarks about the Apple handset and expressing his displeasure with staffers who use one. Perhaps the most infamous example of this came last September during a private company meeting when he caught an employee using an iPhone to snap a photo of his entrance.
Ballmer grabbed the iPhone from the employee, made some remarks as the crowd booed, then placed it on the ground and pretended to stomp on it before walking away. During his ensuing presentation, the Microsoft chief again turned his attention to the employee with a few more teasing remarks.
In yet another sign that Microsoft was determined to curb iPhone adoption amongst its own kind, the Journal notes that the company "in early 2009 modified its corporate cellphone policy to only reimburse service fees for employees using phones that run on Windows Phone software." The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant would later claim the move was "part of a broader cost-cutting plan."
Still, many employees are unwilling to sacrifice their iPhone and regularly adopt measures to hide their handsets when in the presence of the company's top brass, according to the Journal. "While rank-and-file workers tend to use the iPhone openly around peers, some conceal them within sight of more senior executives.," the paper reports. "One Microsoft worker said he knows several colleagues who try to disguise their iPhones with cases that make them look more like generic handsets."
Ballmer laughs off the iPhone in 2007.
"Maybe once a year I'm in a meeting with Steve Ballmer," that employee said. "It doesn't matter who's calling, I'm not answering my phone."
Comments
From the video... If we didn't think there was transformation going on we wouldn't be playing...
Transforming sh*t into bricks. And that does take talent...
You don't work at Pepsi and bring a Coke back from lunch. No matter who is watching.
But without the cans nobody would know
However, since my holdings of AAPL greatly outstrip my MSFT investment, I guess I should encourage Microsoft employees to keep buying iPhones.
Thanks guys!
You don't work at Pepsi and bring a Coke back from lunch. No matter who is watching.
Chug it on the way back and leave the container in the car.
I knew a guy that liked classic Fords and worked for GM. The only restriction for him was that if he wasn't parking a GM vehicle, he had to park it on the farthest parking lot.
How many Apple employees family members use PC's at work or at school?
But without the cans nobody would know
The ringtone is the worse give away. Here in NYC everyone seems to use the old phone ringtone. Whenever I'm in a crowded place everyone grabs their iPhone when they hear it.
How many Apple employees have Windows PC's or use Windows on a Mac?
How many Apple employees family members use PC's at work or at school?
And: how many of those Apple employees LIKE the Windows experience anywhere near as much as the Mac experience, or find it anywhere near as productive and hassle-free?
Vs. how may of the Microsoft employees LIKE the iPhone experience anywhere near as much (dare I say better?) than the Windows Mobile experience?
In other words, how many Microsoft and Apple people use the competitor?s products by CHOICE vs. regrettable necessity?
Surely the easiest way for MS to stop their employees using iPhones would be for MS to build a better phone that those same employees would actually want, no?
Damn, what a concept!
Although it's no secret that members of Microsoft's leadership frown upon employees who choose an Apple iPhone over one running the company's own Windows Mobile operating system, approximately 1 in 10 still veer towards the forbidden fruit and sometimes go to great lengths to conceal them on the job.
So why is it still an issue? You get MS technology buying a WinMo phone. But you get an MS OS, plus some third party hardware.
With the iPhone you get Third part y hardware and perhaps a small amount of licensed MS technology, but to be honest the *reason* I bought an iPhone has almost 100% to do with that piece of MS technology. MS ActiveSync technology allows Google to provide me my iPhone email/calendar/contacts syncing.
Why aren't they pointing that out...it's a win both parties in my mind.
Without that key piece in place I'd be forced to buy a RIM/Blackberry device.
If it's so important for Microsoft's employees to use Windows Mobile phones, buy 'em the damned phones!
You do know that they have tried giving them away - right?
You don't work at Pepsi and bring a Coke back from lunch. No matter who is watching.
I agree - I love Apple. I have a brand new MBP. But I don't have an iPod or an iPhone[AT&T-abomination]. But just b/c Apple is awesome, doesn't mean that good business practices should be pushed aside. You don't work for Yahoo and use Google search at work. You don't work for GM and drive a Honda to work...there was a recent story about a GM plant about to close and one of the workers driving a Honda to work. One day he came out and his car was demolished. Is that wrong? Yes. Should he have been smarter? Of course.