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.
Oh no! Chinese employees must use a better operating system! How dare they!
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.
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
Free iPhone. Not bad
It says they’ll be provided one as a “one time purchase” so I’m thinking it’s not free and they have one chance to buy it
China, so definitely not the same worker protections; but where I’m at, that kind of deduction isn’t legal.
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.
This is less of a “iPhones are more secure” thing and more “Google play is banned in China” thing.
Apple willingly extinguishes freedom of speech to protect app store profits:
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/3/23901205/apple-app-store-government-license-china
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/19/tech/china-apple-whatspp-threads-removal-hnk-intl/index.html
It’s not like Microsoft can’t send APKs over-the-air. Whatever the reason, it’s not because of Google Play.
It’s not just Google play that’s blocked, the entirety of the Google Services Framework is blocked in China, including the security framework that is part of it.
MS would have to build their own bespoke Android security framework in addition. Which is a whole hell of a lot more than just “sending the APK over the air”
Man, I’d hate to see an IT department you were in charge of.
I may be completely off the mark, but I’m pretty sure that Intune device management doesn’t allow you to push arbitrary APKs out to managed Android devices. There would still also be the issue of getting the device managed to start with.
Microsoft isn’t about to roll out their own version of the Play Store just to serve APKs to their Chinese employees.
They also are not going to try and manage rolling out updates to whatever cluster mess of different android devices those employees use, tracking update compliance, etc
Any other solution to this involves considerable extra work for their internal IT team(s). Easier to just force everyone needing access to corporate devices to use a single standard (and buy company phones for the few who raise a stink).
I think that intune has the same control over Android as it does iOS. One a device is enrolled, it can be wiped and sandboxed apps can be approved or denied. I’m not sure about pushing apps to phones, I think the end user had to download it still. Regardless, is not about Microsoft and it’s control, it’s about China and their control, and Apple gets on their knees and opens wide.
Yes, device management systems can push apps directly to devices, but the devices have to be managed first. So I think it probably is about the lack of Google Play.
One of the hardest parts of managing devices is getting them enrolled in device management in the first place. Microsoft uses the Microsoft Authenticator app to authenticate users as part of the enrollment process, so they know which employee is using the device and how to configure it. They need a reliable app store to distribute that app, and they need to do it before the device is managed. So usually they rely on Google Play.
Just going to add to that
Apple removes Hong Kong protest app, Quartz news app following Chinese criticism https://www.techspot.com/news/82284-apple-removes-hong-kong-protest-app-quartz-news.html
Apple’s Compromises in China: 5 Takeaways https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/technology/apple-china-privacy-censorship.html
Apple limited a crucial AirDrop function in China just weeks before protests https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/30/apple-limited-a-crucial-airdrop-function-in-china-just-weeks-before-protests.html
Apple has stored the data of thousands of customers on Chinese servers and censored apps https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-data-china-censors-apps-nyt-2021-5?op=1
Apple made secret 5-year $275B deal with Chinese government https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/12/07/apple-made-secret-5-year-275b-deal-with-chinese-government
It’s a Google updates issue since they’re blocked. Apple isn’t but they comply with the Chinese government just as much as they do in the US as does Google. Remember Google is banned because it would not comply with China. How quickly the Americans forget.
Most likely the corporate spyware that Microsoft enables, requires very recent Google services and Apple services to operate. It’s pretty standard in the corporate spyware world. Usually just a few months out of date at most.
