Facebook Tells Employees to Ditch iPhones for Android

Have an iPhone and work for Facebook? If you're part of chief product officer Chris Cox's team, you may be switching to Android. He's forcing a substantial portion of his team to switch to Android so they can essentially eat their own dog food—and because it's the only way he can get them to not use an iPhone.

Facebook tells some employees, Facebook tells some employees, "No iPhone for you!"

Mr. Cox told reporters,

I am mandating a switch of a whole bunch of my team over to Android, just because people, when left up to their own devices, will often prefer an iPhone.

His reasoning behind the decision isn't anti-iPhone; instead, it's about getting his staff familiar with the dominant smartphone platform in emerging markets. Mr. Cox needs his staff to be "reporting bugs and living in the same experience that most Facebook users experience today," according to Wired.

His argument makes sense considering Facebook wants to be the go-to platform on all mobile devices, whether they run iOS or Android OS. If his staff only knows iPhone, they won't be as well equipped to make the Facebook experience better on other platforms.

It's good to see Mr. Cox isn't forcing all of his team to ditch their iPhones because there are plenty of issues to address there, like vampire battery sucking.