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'Smoked by Windows Phone' claims 98 percent success rate worldwide

'Smoked by Windows Phone' claims 98 percent success rate worldwide

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Microsoft has released numbers for its "Smoked by Windows Phone" campaign, claiming a 98 percent success rate over 36 countries and over 50,000 rival phones bested.

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When Microsoft launched its "Smoked by Windows Phone" tests at CES this year, we didn't expect them to become a linchpin of the company's mobile campaign. Clearly, we were wrong, and now Microsoft has released numbers on just how big it's gotten. According to a recent blog post, the speed tests have been run in 36 countries, and a total of 50,675 devices have been "smoked" by a rival Windows Phone. More impressively for Microsoft, 98 percent of the tests conducted from CES until now have been won by the Windows Phone, with a mere 638 phones earning the roughly $100 (depending on country) prize.

There has, of course, been some controversy over the results. One winner, who used a Galaxy Nexus to show weather faster than a Windows Phone, got an official apology (as well as a phone and laptop) when Microsoft denied his win on a technicality. Our own Sean Hollister has also taken the test, noting that "nearly every test favors Windows Phone's clever integration of social networking and local search into the operating system... and the few that don't, like the two-city weather test, are carefully doled out to users with ancient, slow devices, those who obviously aren't tech-savvy, and those who don't care if they're a winner." Windows Phone has some fantastic features, but Microsoft's unlikely to start a fight it doesn't think it can win.