The recent mini-scandal with Microsoft stores and the Smoked by Windows Phone contest is attracting a lot of interest to the company and this program it’s running. As we’ve discussed before, the contest is supposed to put smartphone users up against a Microsoft employee on their Windows Phone handset, in order to see who can convince certain tasks the fastest. At this point, winners are taking home a laptop valued at a thousand dollars, while losers have to admit their defeat. The one aspect of the promotion we haven’t talked much about has been Microsoft’s offer to let the losers trade their old smartphone in for a new Windows Phone model. Depending on the hardware you already have, that could be a decent deal, but it may be even better we thought, at least if the latest rumors are true.

Supposedly, some Microsoft stores have been stretching the rules a bit, and are letting people trade-in an old feature phone for a Windows Phone model. According to accounts, the only stipulation being enforced is that the phones need to have at least basic web access. There’s been no word if people are actually attempting the SBWP challenge with a web-only interface – only that they’ve been trading them in for proper smartphones.

We don’t know if this might just be the case of a rogue store, or if these kind of trade-ins are now official Microsoft policy. If they are, this might be a good way to get rid of an old feature phone.

Source: Dave Zatz (Twitter)

Via: Electronista

Image: Gizmodo