Microsoft Is Bribing Phone Store Employees To Recommend Windows Phones Over iPhones

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You don’t need to know anything more about the state of the mobile industry than the fact that the worst mainstream smartphone OS, Android, is the number one smartphone platform by numbers, while one of the best — Windows Phone 7 — justy can’t get any momentum.

That’s a real shame, because short of iOS, WP7 is the best mobile OS out there: it’s got an innovative tile-based interface, slick hardware, and a cogent design philosophy. But not only is Windows Phone 7 not getting any traction in the market, but Microsoft is going so far now as to reportedly bribe retail store employees to recommend WP7 over Android or iPhones. Yikes.

According to Paul Thurrot, Microsoft has put together a $200MM war chest of cash to help promote Windows Phone 7, and is willing to pay store staff between $10 and $15 bounty for each Windows Phone 7 handset they sell, depending on how many units each person sells.

I really love Windows Phone 7. It’s the solid competitor with fresh ideas that Apple needs to keep iOS fresh. It’s downright sad that it’s come to this, though: Microsoft literally having to write paychecks to get people talking about it. Even sadder? I doubt that many cell phone store employees will recommend a Windows Phone over an iPhone even with the bounty.

[via Electronista]

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