UK is being smoked by Windows Phone
Microsoft's 'Smoked by Windows Phone' challenge, introduced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, has finally reached the UK under a new name, 'Dare To Live'. Microsoft's Windows Phone teams kicked off the campaign this weekend in London, visiting Oxford Street, Camden, Shoreditch, Tottenham Court Road and Westfield (White City). Another 10 cities have been scheduled in a campaign that runs into July.
The challenge is to perform certain actions on your phone faster than Microsoft can do it on a Nokia Lumia 800 running Windows Phone 7. Microsoft won 88 percent of the races at CES and 93 percent in Indonesia.
However, Microsoft has reduced the prize dramatically to only £20. In the US, as I reported previously, Microsoft increased the original prize from $100 in cash (or 100 Euros in Spain) to a $1,000 PC. This led to some bad publicity when Android user Sahas Katta was temporarily denied a prize, though Microsoft rapidly made good. (See Microsoft Smoked by Windows Phone loss.)
In the UK version, which sounds more like a bit of fun, losers are dared to undertake another challenge. For example, in Westfield on Saturday, the losers were dared to complete a 60-metre ropes course, 4 metres in the air. They can also get a £100 Phones4U cash-back offer if they upgrade to a Lumia 800 at selected stores.
Microsoft has launched a Facebook page to carry news, photos and videos of Dare To Live (www.wpdaresyou.com). It also mentions "Dares TV", which starts today.