I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost “Just Because” | Skatter Tech: " . . . The Microsoft Store employee I was up against then explained the selected challenge. Her exact words were the following: “bring up the weather of two different cities.” The one who could do that first would win. I felt like I struck gold since I knew I already had two weather widgets on my home screen: one for my current location (San Jose, CA) and another for Berkeley, CA. After a three-second count down, I hit the power button on my phone and said “DONE!” out loud. I had disabled the lock screen entirely, which is a rather awesome out-of-the-box feature of Android that takes you straight to the home screen with a single push of the power button. I didn’t even need to touch the screen, since the two weather widgets were already there. My opponent finished a split-second later. She had two live tiles on her home screen displaying the weather of two different cities as well. Why does it take longer on Windows Phone? She had to perform two actions. First, she hit the power button to turn on the screen. Second, she had to swipe away the lock screen. That’s pretty much as fast as it gets on that platform. Windows Phone takes two interactions. Android takes just one. I excitedly thought I won out of pure luck. However, I was quickly told that I lost. I asked for a reason and was told Windows Phone won because “it displays the weather right there.” That was rather unclear. I showed her my device which also was showing off the same information with two side-by-side weather widgets on the center home screen. After pressing for a better reason, I was told that Windows Phone won “just because.”. . . "
You can read the rest of the tale here. Suffice it to say Microsoft is a poor Loser! At least it is not going unnoticed: A marketing time-bomb explodes: Android user wins Windows Phone Challenge, gets cheated by MS staff | VentureBeat. This is a bad omen for Nokia and Windows Phone. Buyer Beware!
Update--
Microsoft apologizes over 'Smoked by Windows Phone' controversy, offers winner laptop and phone | The Verge: "Microsoft's working quickly to counter backlash it's receiving after denying a user who won a Windows Phone challenge his just reward. Yesterday, Sahas Katta won a "Smoked by Windows Phone" challenge when his Galaxy Nexus displayed the weather of two different cities faster than the Windows Phone he was up against, but the Microsoft store claimed that he had to show weather from two different states. Microsoft has been roundly bashed for this technicality since then, so Windows Phone evangelist Ben Rudolph has just taken to Twitter to apologize and offer Katta a new laptop and Windows Phone, as well as an apology. --Ben Rudolph@BenThePCGuy Hey @sahaskatta , @MicrosoftStore & I want to make things right. So I've got a laptop & phone (& apology) for you. Email me! 26 Mar 12 "
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Update--
Microsoft apologizes over 'Smoked by Windows Phone' controversy, offers winner laptop and phone | The Verge: "Microsoft's working quickly to counter backlash it's receiving after denying a user who won a Windows Phone challenge his just reward. Yesterday, Sahas Katta won a "Smoked by Windows Phone" challenge when his Galaxy Nexus displayed the weather of two different cities faster than the Windows Phone he was up against, but the Microsoft store claimed that he had to show weather from two different states. Microsoft has been roundly bashed for this technicality since then, so Windows Phone evangelist Ben Rudolph has just taken to Twitter to apologize and offer Katta a new laptop and Windows Phone, as well as an apology. --Ben Rudolph@BenThePCGuy Hey @sahaskatta , @MicrosoftStore & I want to make things right. So I've got a laptop & phone (& apology) for you. Email me! 26 Mar 12 "
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