Microsoft Staff Hide Their iPhones From Executives
Roughly 10 percent of people at Microsoft own iPhones. While most of them aren't shy about their choice of cell phone, some of them hide or disguise their devices while they're at work.
Last September Steve Ballmer sent out a pretty clear message when he pretended to smash an employee's iPhone. Ballmer was reportedly running around, whooping, waving and shouting. When an employee tried to take his picture with an iPhone, the CEO took it from him, made some funny remarks while everyone else booed and then put it on the floor and pretended to stomp on it. The device was fine; Ballmer was just teasing after all. But how do iPhone-toting Microsofties feel about flashing their phones now?
This past weekend, the Wall Street Journal published a report about iPhone use at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters. Roughly 10 percent of Microsoft staff are said to be using Apple's iPhone and apparently, some of them go a long way to hide it.
WSJ reports that while many of them don't care who sees them tapping away on their iPhones in the lobby, the cafeteria or even the conference room, there are those who definitely don't want their devices being seen.
WSJ:
While rank-and-file workers tend to use the iPhone openly around peers, some conceal them within sight of more senior executives. One Microsoft worker said he knows several colleagues who try to disguise their iPhones with cases that make them look more like generic handsets.
"Maybe once a year I'm in a meeting with Steve Ballmer," said this employee. "It doesn't matter who's calling, I'm not answering my phone."
Though a few executives at Microsoft have said staff members often use rival products to better understand the competition, recent statements made by COO Kevin Turner counter their reasoning. Turner made it clear that "what's good for the field is good for Redmond." It seems Steve Ballmer agrees. If his aversion to iPhones was not made clear enough back in September, Ballmer echoed Turner's comments about company loyalty. Ballmer says that when he was growing up, his father worked for Ford, and his family always drove Fords.
^Not a fact.
This is a pretty pathetic argument. That said, imagine how pissed Steve Jobs would be if 1% of Apple employees used windows phones... or if google entered their phone market...
Yea well Steve Jobs likes to control everything, so he would probably be pissed off if a computer that is anything but glossy white entered Apple Headquarters.
In this case, it's even more important as it's a competitor's product with competing logos. In my office for example, clothing with any company logo on it (other than ours) is forbidden. It's not a rule I've ever seen actually enforced, but I noticed it in a recent training class.
Personally I'm surprised a fortune 500 company like Microsoft is allowing cell phones with cameras on the premises. Most do not, for risk of corporate espionage. I am carrying a blackberry 8830 world edition especially because of this and the ability to roam in other countries.
No doubt, iphone is far more trendy and probably less than twice the thickness of the WinCE touch phone I had in 2002, but I think if anything Apple just recently caught up (and surpassed in popularity) to MS in the cellphone market.
Yep. In the way of corporate mentality: paycheck = control
If Ballmer or any other executive grabbed my non-Microsoft away from me, and they didn't have a contractual requirement of me to only use MS products.
Well, that executive would either have damaged body parts or I'd have them in handcuffs for theft.
You're spot on, though. Seems more and more that companies think because they pay you for your professional talents means that they can tell you what to use, how to act, and what places you can go.
This is just taking the whole joke Ballmer tried to crack too far. Honestly if anyone at Microsoft really is offended that an employee uses an Iphone they have bigger issues. What it all boils down to is some employees want to play it safe and don't want to rock the boat. Even if they had their Iphone on their desk it would not matter, not a big deal and I am sure that Microsoft feels the same way. Now when your talking the execs, they may indeed choose to not use one, not because they were told not to, but because they are more loyal to the brand than someone that files paperwork and does data entry.
Hopefully employees would be behind the products they sell, and use them as well. However, if their employee discount isn't enough to convince them to buy their own product, that's their choice.