Apple's iPhone is reportedly quite popular on the campus of rival Microsoft, with nearly 10 percent of the company's work force using the smartphone.
The figure comes from two unnamed sources, who told the Wall Street Journal that they got the statistics directly from Microsoft senior executives. Almost 10,000 people -- roughly one tenth of the company's global workforce -- have used the iPhone to access Microsoft's employee e-mail system, the sources say.
Other anecdotal evidence of the iPhone's popularity abounds: Microsoft employees openly use the phone at meetings and around the company campus. J Allard, a well-known executive who helped create the Xbox, is a known iPhone user.
Microsoft doesn't have an outright ban on the iPhone, but the company changed its policies last year to only reimburse service fees on Windows Phones. And while some employees use iPhones within plain sight of each other, they tend to hide them in the presence of executives or use cases that make the phone look more generic, the Journal reports.
For good reason: In September, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer reportedly pretended to smash an employee's iPhone at a company meeting when the employee tried to snap a photo of Ballmer. Also, iPhones and iPods are not allowed at the home of Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder and chairman.
I think it's great that so many Microsoft employees are using the competitor's product, and that they aren't prohibited from doing so. It could provide the necessary motivation for Microsoft to create a better product with Windows Phone 7 Series, and it also shows that even at work, people like to have a phone that's consumer friendly. Perhaps Microsoft's next phone series can do a better job of bridging the gap.
