Microsoft has told all its employees in China that they will soon only be allowed to use iPhones for work purposes. The ban on Android devices is part of a security-related Microsoft initiative for providing a unified way of managing and verifying employee identities.
The mandate, set to come into effect in September 2024, was announced in an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News. It will require Microsoft’s China-based workers to verify their identities when logging in to work computers or phones. The change is part of Microsoft’s global Secure Future Initiative that is intended, among other things, to ensure that all staff use the Microsoft Authenticator password manager and Identity Pass app.
While Apple’s iOS store is available in China, Google Play isn’t. Local smartphone giants such as Huawei and Xiaomi operate their own platforms in the country, but Microsoft has chosen to block access from those companies’ devices to its corporate resources because they lack Google’s mobile services, reads the memo.
Any staff in the country using Android handsets, including those from Huawei or Xiaomi, will be provided with an iPhone 15, as a one-time purchase. The Redmond giant is designating collection points across China where employees can pick up their iPhones.
Microsoft is also introducing the iPhones-only rule in Hong Kong, despite the Google Play Store being available in the special administrative region of China.
Maybe just release AND support some decent phones if your own, Macroshit.
Have you seen Windows 11? I have no faith Microsoft could produce a decent phone OS that would serve users well.
The Microsoft phone was decent, but, yea, their app store was lacking. Shoutout to the Zune, which was pretty good software & hardware from what I can remember.
Macroshit
It’s not necessary to change the name to make fun of them. We’ve been giggling at the name “Micro Soft” alone for 30 years.
Any staff in the country using Android handsets, including those from Huawei or Xiaomi, will be provided with an iPhone 15, as a one-time purchase
Fuck off. If you’re mandating what device I’m to use for work; you’re going to provide said device free of charge, or shut the fuck up when I use whatever I like.
That’s not how it works in “communist” China.
Workers don’t have too many rights.
Workers don’t have too many rights.
Maybe not stellar but still better than quite a few of the 135 countries surveyed by this NGO in 2022. Behind Brazil, Russia and South Africa but ahead of India. Better than the so-called “land of the free” also, so maybe the joke’s on them?
That’s my read of it, or am I misunderstanding something?
Microsoft will purchase for their Android using employees an iPhone 15. The reference to one-time being that employees are only entitled to one, in the event they were to lose or damage it?
I could be wrong; but it came across to me as a “we’ll sell you one at a special discount”
Fair enough; it’s a bit vaguely worded and could be interpreted multiple ways.
From my experience, big corporations have always either provided me with company-issued phones for official use, or offered an additional allowance if I’ve opted to use my own personal device.
Then again, given how absolutely absurd some of Microsoft’s recent decisions have been (eg. Recall) - you can’t really be certain.
The enterprise features are nicer on iOS and less confusing for clients and administrators. So I can understand the appeal of eliminating android.
Maybe read the text? It has nothing to do with prefering iOS. It’s just google refused to comply with China’s spyware requests some time ago (a broken clock and all that), so it’s literally impossible to use android for this in China. Apple on the other hand is happy to suck China’s dick hahahaha, so it’s the only option. Man, you Apple fans are really brainwashed, this is a bad look for Apple hahahah.
Play services actually works very well for containerizing work apps. Better actually than on iOS. My work can offer a set of apps that are available in this isolated container and apply policy to them that doesn’t impact other areas of the phone. I can also shut off all of them with a single button when I am on PTO. Microsoft’s apps require these services to build the container, and I believe Android phones in China do not have play services. It’s not perfect, but I personally think it works very well.
Oh sure, its not bad. It’s just that’s exactly the issue. The hybrid configuration of work apps and personal apps in my experience was mentally draining to explain time after time to people and configure in intune and knox. People frequently used it incorrectly. With iOS it was much more subtle and friendly experience I rarely had any issues with the apple users. Perhaps we were using it wrong, but it was a miserable experience for everyone involved.
We tried the work only configuration that was much more pleasant to maintain but we were threatened with a strike if we didn’t let people install their own apps.
Edit: This was back in the galaxy s7 days so maybe it’s better now.
Oh no! Chinese employees must use a better operating system! How dare they!
TIL: Considering one of two major competitors technically better than the other is “simping” now.
Which one is “better” is subjective, so yes it is simping. There are some things one does better than the other, and some things people prefer over the other
Want a fingerprint sensor? Then people would say Android/Galaxy/Pixel phones are better just for that one thing alone. That’s subjective; an opinion
It’s such a childish, stupid thing to want to be “right” over. Like we’re back to the “Xbox or PlayStation is better” conversation
better, lmao. They’re switching to apple because they want their staff to be obedient little guinea pigs that that won’t tinker with their phones but are tracked and monitored just the same like all Apple users.
So better for surveillance, of course they are. That’s why they’re still allowed to operate and bend over to every request by authoritarian nations. But you do you.
I don’t like apple but due to the heavy nuance of this situation I approve of this action. It would have been better for them to develop and distribute their own methods of secure authentication but I realize a for profit company would never agree to that.
