#SmokedByWindowsPhone scrapped, Microsoft outright giving phones away

Two days before the Windows Phone challenge at the Microsoft Stores was set to end, Microsoft has now extended the deal to April 8^th, albeit with a change.

Because customer demand has been so high and because customers have pretty much been coming in just to LOSE and get a phone (they don’t care about the challenge), the stores will no longer be doing the challenge and instead, if you bring in any old smartphone and recycle it at the store, they will give you from $50 to $300 in credit towards a new Windows Phone, free of cost, contract and activation. The reason they’re doing the credit instead of giving you the phone right away is because many (if not all?) stores are literally out of stock of phones at the moment, and they will be slowly fulfilling the phones as they get new stock.

This is the perfect opportunity to get the Radar, Lumia 710, and Focus Flash for free (those phones are under $300), or a nice $300 discount on all of the other phones at the store.

FYI: Microsoft Stores are also taking pre-orders for the Lumia 900.