Report: Microsoft Banning Corporate Purchasing of Apple Products

Apple and Microsoft have long been sworn rivals, but according to a supposed internal Microsoft email, the company is taking their Apple hate to a whole new level, banning employees from purchasing Macs or iPads using company funds.

ZDNet‘s Mary Jo Foley reports that the decision was apparently passed down just this week, and only applies to employees within their Sales, Marketing, Services, IT, & Operations Group (SMSG), effectively preventing over 46,000 Microsoft employees from using Apple’s products to help them perform their jobs.

Microsoft’s SMSG includes their front-line consumer and business sales personel, as well as their service and support representatives. Perhaps The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple put it best, in a comedic style all his own: “If you’re going to make users suffer, why not force employees to suffer too.”

The entire allegedly leaked internal email can be found below.

From: Alain Crozier
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 1:17 PM

Subject: Apple Purchases

Within SMSG we are putting in place a new policy that says that Apple products (Mac & iPad) should not be purchased with company funds.

In the US we will be turning off the Apple products from the Zones Catalog next week, which is the standard purchasing mechanism for these products.

Outside of the US — we will work with your finance and procurement teams to send the right message and put the right processes in place.

The current purchase levels are low, however we recognize there will be a bit of transition work associated with this.  Details of historical purchases in the US are provided in the attachment to help understand the changes that will be needed.Thank you for your support and leadership on this.

Alain Crozier
CFO  |  WW Sales, Marketing & Services Group
WW SMSG Finance

J. Glenn Künzler

Glenn is Managing Editor at MacTrast, and has been using a Mac since he bought his first MacBook Pro in 2006. He lives in a small town in Utah, enjoys bacon more than you can possibly imagine, and is severely addicted to pie.