Microsoft rumored to stop funding employee purchases of Apple's iPads, Macs
An e-mail claimed to be sent to Microsoft's employees states that they will no longer be able to use company funds to buy Apple's iPads or Macs.
The alleged internal company e-mail, provided to Mary-Jo Foley of ZDNet, claims to come from Alain Crozier, Chief Financial officer of Microsoft's Worldwide Sales, Marketing & Services Group. SMSG represents 46,000 worldwide employees at Microsoft who handle consumer and business sales, along with service and support.
"Within SMSG we are putting in place a new policy that says Apple products (Mac & iPad) should not be purchased with company funds," the purported e-mail says. "In the US we will be turning off the Apple products from the Zones Catalog next week, which is the standard purchasing mechanism for these products."
The note goes on to claim that purchase levels of Macs and iPads with company funds are "low," partially justifying their elimination. Foley reached out to Microsoft for comment, but the company declined.
If the changes are true, it would be an extension of a policy toward the iPhone that Microsoft has held since 2009. That year, Microsoft executives modified their corporate policy to only reimburse service fees for employees using handsets that run the Windows Phone mobile operating system.
Still, one report from 2010 said that about 10 percent of Microsoft employees at the time were iPhone users. Since then, Apple's presence in the smartphone market has only grown, while Windows Phone 7 has struggled to compete with the iPhone and handsets based on Google's Android mobile operating system.
Microsoft SMSG CFO Alain Crozier.
While Windows Phone has tumbled in the smartphone market, Windows on the desktop has remained dominant, even as Apple's Mac platform has outgrown the PC market for years. But Windows faces a new threat with the iPad, as continued growth has led analysts, along with Apple executives, to believe the tablet market will become significantly larger than the PC market.
Microsoft hopes to counter the success of the iPad with its forthcoming Windows 8 operating system, which will offer compatibility with traditional PC form factors as well as touchscreen tablets. The first Windows 8-based tablets are expected to hit the market this October.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
Microsoft also announced that their savings would enable to buy shares - Apple shares.
A, Invest in security
B, Invest in Windows Phone
C, Invest in Tables
D, None of the Above
It's funny how even MS uses apple because it just works, and it's cool
An e-mail claimed to be sent to Microsoft's employees states that they will no longer be able to use company funds to buy Apple's iPads or Macs.
There's a big difference between somebody at Microsoft using Apple and somebody at Apple using something else. If somebody at Microsoft wants an iPad, that's totally understandable, as the iPad is the premier tablet in the entire world, bar none. If somebody at Microsoft wants an awesome laptop, then Apple is the obvious choice.
If somebody at Apple wishes to use something else, then that is not understandable, and the employee should be required to undergo a psychological evaluation and possible drug treatment to cure them of their illness. If any Apple employee had an Android phone in their pocket, they should immediately be fired, as that is blasphemy and such people should not work for Apple.
Will this make a significant addition to the bottom line?
Will this finally get the stock price to move upward?
Will this help solve the unemployment problem in the Seattle area?
Will this make the equivalent Windows products more successful?
The answer to all these is no.
Will it get Alain Crozier a bonus this year? Probably!
Does anyone doubt Apple has at very least copies of Windows handy for Bootcamp use if not full blown Dells for doing development for Safari, iTunes or for Jonny Ive's team for running CAD or fabrication applications where these is no Mac equivalent?
I wonder if this also applies to the reverse engineering group that buys apple products just so they can dissect them and feed their R&D ideas
Nah. different department
All I could think at the time was, "gee, our products are so meh that in order to get our own employees to use them we have to provide a financial disincentive to use anything else?"
And now that Apple hardware will run MS's OS, MS should be encouraging people to put Windows on Macs.
Apple is not a competitor. Apple is a platform MS can put their wares on.
- Jasen.