e-Business blog

You know you’re in trouble when your own employees start buying the competition’s products, and that’s apparently what’s happening to Microsoft these days. A new story in the Wall Street Journal has uncovered some uncomfortable info:

It seems that an estimated 10,000 Microsoft workers are using iPhones. And they’re not doing company research on them.

The estimate came from unnamed sources who heard it quoted by Microsoft execs as the volume of workers who tap into the Microsoft e-mail system using the Apple smartphone.

Of course the phone’s popularity is no secret, but this is a the first time a credible number’ has been put to the use of  iPhones at the software giant.

All this isn’t sitting well with MS chief Steve Ballmer, who’s apparently so livid at the idea of his underlings’ use of the phone that he’s reported to have snatched one away from an employee using it to take pictures at a company event. To make his point more emphatic, Ballmer is reported to have mimed stomping on phone in front of the crowd at the gathering.

Microsoft has since allegedly changed its mobile phone reimbursement policy to exclude devices not running the company’s software, the WSJ says.

After recently launching the Windows Mobile 6.5 refresh, the company is pinning its hopes on a new smartphone platform, Windows Phone 7, due out in late 2010 or early 2011.

But if their own employees are any indication, this new offering will have plenty of catching up to do — both in Redmond and around the world.

The rewards of social networking are both social and, increasingly, financial, which is driving folks to update their status in some bizarre places, a new study’s found.

The latest Retrevo Gedgetology study asked social media users about when, where and how much time they spend on sites and services like Facebook and Twitter.

Almost half the respondents say they check in on the social media scene in bed, during the night or a soon as they wake up in the morning.

Nearly half check social networking sites first thing in the morning to get their initial dose of daily news. This could bode ill for TV network morning shows and is likely contributing to sinking newspaper circulation rates.

The Retrevo study also found that iPhone users are more likely than others to participate in social networking than others, possibly because custom apps for the smartphone make it easy for owners to connect to their social networks from any location at any time.

While the majority of adults surveyed resent being interrupted (by social media or any other kind of technology), the same isn’t true of those younger than 25. In fact, while 62% of adults dislike being interrupted, only 33% of the young crowd mind. Overall, 40% of respondents said they didn’t mind being interrupted for a message.

And 32% said a meal wasn’t off limits. A small but committed segment of social networking fans — 7% — are even willing to check out a message during an “intimate moment.”

But perhaps the most dedicated social media users of all are the 24% of those younger than 25 who say they check out social media or update their status while using the bathroom.

Let’s just hope they don’t get too specific about what they’re up to.