Facebook is forcing its employees to ditch their iPhones for Android phones so they can understand and feel how most of the world is living with Android.
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The Chief product officer Chris Cox informed a large meeting of reporters at the Facebook Headquarters at Menlo Park and several others hooked in via video conference that this move is not an indicator of Facebook’s newfound love for Android or argument against Apple.
Last week, Facebook announced ‘2G Tuesdays’ so employees can see what using a mobile is like in India.
“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”, said Cox, as reported by Wired.
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.
With Facebook angling to enter into any number of emerging markets, it’s becoming increasingly important for the company to tailor its software for users who aren’t necessarily using the fastest and most advanced smartphones on the market.
Do you think Facebook should focus more efforts on Android? Using Android gadgets will help Facebook employees report bugs efficiently and live the same experience that most of Facebook users live in today. If Facebook wants to reach its goal of connecting the world through its Internet.org project, it has to thoroughly understand how users – future and current – in developing countries experience the internet.
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The company, founded by Mark Zuckerberg estimates that around three billion people from all over the world have access to the Internet and another three billion is expected to go online in the next few years, most of which are coming from emerging markets. “To build for a global audience like ours, we know that we need to design features that work seamlessly even on a 2G network”.
