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Topic: iPhone

Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 with mock iPhone funeral

Summary: Microsoft employees celebrated Windows Phone 7 RTM by holding a mock funeral for the iPhone and BlackBerry through the Redmond campus.

Jason D. O'Grady

By for The Apple Core |

Where to begin?

Some Microsoft employees celebrated the release of Windows Phone 7 to manufacturing by parading through the Redmond campus on Friday with hearses and iPhone and BlackBerry caskets. Yes, caskets.

Apparently, Microsoft employees are so confident in their new mobile OS offering that they created elaborate costumes and art cars and held a mock funeral for the iPhone and Blackberry. The theme was that they had buried the competition with Windows Phone 7.

Um, ok.
Windows Phone 7 was completed on September 1 and its release date will be announced at a media event on October 11 in New York.

Caption contest! Post your best caption in the TalkBack.

Update: It gets better. The Windows Phone 7 team does Thriller:

Tip: neowin

Topics: iPhone, Hardware, Microsoft, Mobility, Operating Systems, Smartphones, Software, Windows

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Talkback

61 comments
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  • This is the Windows Phone 7 funeral

    It was a tad early
    Vbitrate
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 with mock iPhone funeral

      Loved the 'Thriller - Blue Screen of Death' dance number!
      john_gillespie@...
      Reply Vote

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        rainnwilson94
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        rainnwilson94
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  • Just like before the big game, you do not want to give opposing couches

    anything to tape on to the lockers. So, this is really pretty stupid. In any case, the real competition is Android.
    DonnieBoy
    Reply Vote

    • Master Joe Says...Actually

      @DonnieBoy Actually, I disagree with that. While I do agree under the conditions that the other team will likely stomp you ANYWAY, I believe Windows Phone 7 has a LOT to offer, and will be one of the most under-rated smartphone platforms over the next year. But, in this case, this was their party, not a marketing ploy. Had this been a commercial, I'd see wehre you are coming from. I don't believe thsi was ever meant to be a news story, just a bunch of geeks having fun. Personally, I think it's humorous. A sign of things to come? Probably not. there are people who would buy an iPhone no matter how many issues they had (look at the latest generation, if you need proof of that). But, that doesn't mean the rest of the world can't have a good laugh.

      --Master Joe
      SteelCityPC
      Reply Vote

  • Pathetic ...

    Seriously, does anybody think that WP7 has any chance of destroying the iPhone sales??

    This is just pathetically stupid ..... and a display of immature unprofessional behavior ......

    How come they did not make a funeral for the epic failure called THE KIN .... the very 1st MetroUI phone.
    wackoae
    Reply Vote

    • Master Joe Says...Pathetic

      @wackoae I agree that something here is pathetic, but I'm looking your way with that comment. What this is here is nothing more than a team celebrating the culmination of a project, and having some fun. Just because Apple used to pride themselves on employees working 20 hours a day (or more), doesn't mean no other company should have fun. That's all this was, a good time. And, for all of the negativity towards it, it's amazing to me that people bothered to comment at all. Had Apple done the same thing, people would have been on here praising it as hilarious. Get over it.

      --Master Joe
      SteelCityPC
      Reply Vote

      • r

        @MasterJoe Didn't you just say the same thing to another dude? We get it, they are nerds, you are an apologist. Can we all move on?
        kwabinalars
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 with mock iPhone funeral

    Oh... Oh dear God.... Oh... I'm in IT and this makes ME, a certified geek cringe....

    When will Microsoft learn, they're not funny, their marketing sucks and their "Microsoft Speak" is just plain double-talk.

    I hope Win Phone 7 brings it, can only help consumers, just hope we don't have to sit through any awkward Seinfeld commercials...
    STSanford
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 with mock iPhone funeral

      @STSanford - This wasn't a marketing thing, this was a "release party". The fact that it made the news, complete with photographs and videos, doesn't change that.

      "Release To Manufacturing" parties are typically internal, not intended for public consumption, and definitely not intended to be used as a marketing piece because most of what you see comes from the employees themselves, not Microsoft as a whole.
      It's to blow off steam after a long development cycle.

      And yes, I used to be an insider, that's how I know. I recall one RTM party where we had supersoakers filled with champagne, smoked real cuban cigars supplied by an employee's spouse and had a massive food fight.
      PollyProteus
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 with mock iPhone funeral

        @PollyProteus: This was a pathetic pep rally. A release party would be a BBQ with some beers or a dinner/beers at a local pup or restaurant.
        aristotle_z
        Reply Vote

  • Can someone explain this to me?

    You Apple zealots all cheered at the Mac vs PC commercials but you are all so incredibly upset at this. Seriously? Why are you so threatened by this? Why do you care so much? And when I say "so much", I really mean [b]SO MUCH!!![/b]

    When I first heard about this story, I though [i]Hmm, okay, WP7 is probably not going to kill the iPhone but I can see the humour in this event.[/i]

    I then read rant after rant after rant from Apple zealot sites about how tasteless this was. Get a clue guys, these people weren't celebrating the death of a person. But you Apple zealots personify everything that Apple makes so that you honestly believe that MS is celebrating the death of a human being. [b]THE IPHONE IS NOTHING MORE THAN A BULK CONSUMER DEVICE MADE IN A CHINESE FACTORY. IT IS NOT A HUMAN BEING.[/b] And I own an iPhone. Seriously, you guys are embarrassing.
    NonZealot
    Reply Vote

    • Question: Who will make the WP7 devices?

      @NonZealot: I feel your pain, but honestly, who will make all those WP7 phones? They are the EXACT SAME BULK CONSUMER DEVICES as ANY PHONE currently on the market
      financegozu
      Reply Vote

      • I agree

        @financegozu
        [i]who will make all those WP7 phones[/i]

        Probably the exact same company that makes the iPhone although I doubt that any workers will be murdered since Ballmer isn't an evil man, unlike Steve Jobs.

        That's the thing, I hold no double standards. Apple zealots are constantly cheering the death of the Kin. [b]CHEERING THE DEATH OF THE KIN!!![/b] You don't see anyone freaking out about how tasteless that is. That is because only Apple zealots have an unhealthy emotional attachment to the multi-national, multi-billion $$$/year mega-corporation that just happens to make the bulk consumer goods that they purchase.

        Talking about the death of a product is not the same as talking about the death of a living thing. These products aren't alive. That would be a good thing for the Apple zealots to remember.
        NonZealot
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 with mock iPhone funeral

      @NonZealot Well said! I love my iPhone - not Apple so much - but this was funny... you are right, some people need to lighten up a bit. And really a KIN funeral would not be as funny, it would be something done out of spite.
      athynz
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 with mock iPhone funeral

      @NonZealot
      You live in a bizarre paranoid fantasy world.
      "You Apple zealots all cheered at the Mac vs PC commercials but you are all so incredibly upset at this. "

      Please point to a SINGLE post submitted here that shows any "Apple enthusiast" acting upset. At most the posts submitted up to this point indicate boredom.

      But good job keeping up your track record of making stuff up.
      DeusXMachina
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 with mock iPhone funeral

      @NonZealot First, I thought the Mac VS PC commercials were great but that has nothing to do with how I feel about Apple or MS. They were entertaining well thought out ads that just worked. I didn't pay enough attention to debate the validity of the ads but guess I don't need to since I don't constantly praise them like some or continually cry about them like you do.

      Second, you see all kinds of rants from Apple zealots complaining about this party? Really, where were they? I see people making comments about it being stupid but the only person I see making any kind of rant from either side would be you, get over it already.

      Third, talking about who will manufacture the devices and throwing in a comment like ??although I doubt that any workers will be murdered since Ballmer isn't an evil man, unlike Steve Jobs.? is about as pathetic of a hater comment as I have ever read. Did Jobs take your lunch money every day in elementary school or something? Something has to explain your borderline psychotic hatred for a man that really has absolutely nothing to do with your life. I just cannot understand how people like you can actually hate someone or something that has no real effect on you or your life. It?s one thing to hate somebody you know that did something to you but something else to hate somebody that you have never and will never meet or have any effect on your life but when you have hatred for a device, object or company it?s gotten to a level that you really should seek professional help.

      Fourth, correct people bring up the death of the Kin frequently but they aren?t just Apple fans. Apart from that the obvious difference here which you don?t seem to grasp due to your MS Fanboy/Apply Hater blinders is that comments about the death of Kin are not coming from MS?s competition unlike this. While I would not have done it if I were in charge and no way I would have done the dance it was a internal party and they were just having fun. I would say though that while I think WP7 is very possibly so late to the party that they aren?t going to be hurting anybody too bad they should have included Android as I bet they take more sales from Android devices than any other OS.

      Last but most certainly not least, your comments like ?Apple zealots have an unhealthy emotional attachment to the multi-national, multi-billion $$$/year mega-corporation?? are about as hypocritical as they come. There might be one of two that come close but of all the posters I have seen on this site you most definitely have the lead on the unhealthy emotional attachment. You are also up there in at least the top ten for unhealthy hatred.
      non-biased
      Reply Vote

  • Apple should just throw in the towel ...

    ... and gracefully accept defeat.

    Jobs should burst into song and sing, "I dreamed a little dream, but now I see, it was all for naught!"
    P. Douglas
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Microsoft celebrates Windows Phone 7 with mock iPhone funeral

      @P. Douglas
      You mean because 150 idiots out there threw a YouTube party for vaporware that hasn't been released yet?

      What puff of smoke did you inhale...

      lol... :D
      ahh so
      Reply Vote
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