Former Google Employee Marissa Mayer Wants All Yahoo Employees To Use iPhones
Former Google employee and current Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has never strayed away from her love of the Apple iPhone. Even while working as a product engineer and executive at Google, she used an iOS device in favor of a Google Android smartphone. Now Yahoo’s new CEO is asking that the company give every single employee an iPhone.
Two different sources tell Business Insider that employees could receive an iPhone 5 when its released in September or October. The move is being seen as a way to boost morale for employees at the company after various layoffs and uncertainty regarding the company’s direction.
Marissa would tap into the company’s considerable cash reserves to pay for the new mobile devices.
If an employee doesn’t want an iPhone, Kara Swisher at AllThingsD notes that Mayer is open to allowing for Android phone purchases as well.
The biggest reasoning behind the iPhone 5 buy appears to be Mayer’s idea to bring “consistency” to the company through a mobile initiative. At the moment, Yahoo employees use BlackBerrys, iPhones, Android devices, and any other devices they choose.
The move could signal Yahoo’s desire to focus primarily on a single platform for development of its products. Many company’s will release an iOS or Android product months before rolling out the same type of mobile app on other platforms.
The move to purchase a single type of device couldn’t ultimately save Yahoo millions of dollars in the future as the company will not be required to develop and maintain mobile technical support systems for multiple OS types.
