Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ordered his management team to only use Android phones, given that the operating system has more total users worldwide. According to The New York Times, the decision reportedly occurred after Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized Facebook in an MSNBC interview for being a service that traffics “in your personal life.”
In those comments made back in March, Cook dismissed a question asking him what he would do if he were in Zuckerberg’s shoes dealing with the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal by saying, “I wouldn’t be in this situation.” Zuckerberg soon after retorted in an interview with Recode that he found Cook’s comments to be “extremely glib,” and that “I think it’s important that we don’t all get Stockholm syndrome and let the companies that work hard to charge you more convince you that they actually care more about you. Because that sounds ridiculous to me.”
While it’s not clear how Cook’s aggressive comments directly provoked Zuckerberg into issuing his Android-only order, it’s still a rational decision to make Americans use Android. Android is the dominant operating system in many regions outside of the US, including South America, Europe, Russia, South Asia, and parts of the Middle East.
It’s also a good business decision. Other tech companies like Snap have strongly encouraged workers to use Android phones. US tech workers tend to use these phones less, which creates a blind spot when working on the apps. Android and iOS have real differences that could impact app development and user experiences.
That said, we checked Twitter activity from several Facebook executives, including blockchain lead David Marcus and VP of AR and VR Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, all of whom are still shown to be using iPhones, so it’s possible Zuckerberg’s order wasn’t fully enforced or that these people all use iPhones in their personal lives.
