14 DAY TRIAL // The battle between iOS and Android devices takes place not only on the market, where customers must decide which side they’re on, but also within companies, as some employers decide to go for a specific platform because of the advantages it brings.
In Facebook’s case, the majority of workers are already using iPhones, but that’s not at all a good thing, the leadership team says. The company also needs to test the Android app and improve it for all markets out there, so the social network has turned to a pretty radical decision.
Facebook’s Chief Product Officer Chris Cox has said in a recent interview with Wired that company employees have been asked to give up on their iPhones and start using Android phones. The reason is as simple as it could be: they need to try out the Android app and optimize it for emerging markets, where Android is believed to have a bigger market share than iOS.
Increased focus on Android
iPhones are generally more successful in developed countries, given their premium price, so in order to discover how consumers in emerging markets are using the app, employees need to switch to Android.
“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,” Chris Cox is quoted as saying. “They can be reporting bugs and living in the same experience that most Facebook users experience today.”
But this doesn’t necessarily mean that employees should actually forget about the iPhone version of the app. In fact, they’re hard at work to bring new features on iPhones and address critical bugs, as it has recently been discovered that some of the services that are built into the app are causing unnecessary battery drain.
As part of Facebook’s plans to increase the focus on Android, employees are also switching to 2G networks for one full hour every Tuesday in order to see how the app behaves in emerging markets, where Internet connections are said to be slower.