Microsoft Asks China Employees To Drop Android For iPhones By September
Microsoft has asked its employees in China to drop Android and shift to iPhones for work starting in September, according to a Bloomberg report. The Chinese-based employees of the US company have been reportedly notified through an internal memo. The same has also been issued for the firm’s Hong Kong office as well, as per India Today.
As per the Bloomberg report, Microsoft asked its China-based employees to switch to Apple devices to verify their identities when logging into work computers or phones. This move is reportedly part of the US firm’s worldwide Secure Future Initiative, intended to ensure the Microsoft Authenticator password manager and Identity Pass app are used by all staff.
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The primary reason for the switch is that unlike Apple’s iOS store, Google Play is unavailable in China, so local smartphone companies such as Huawei Technologies Co. and Xiaomi Corp. operate their own platforms. Microsoft has restricted access to these platforms as they lack the mobile services of Google in China.
The report states that employees using Android devices, including Huawei and Xiaomi devices, will be given an iPhone 15 as a one-time purchase.
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The directive comes amid rising cybersecurity concerns for Microsoft with the recent Russian-state-sponsored hacking group Midnight Blizzard. The attack impacted many US government agencies. Microsoft even informed certain customers that their emails might have been accessed in the breach.
