What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas.
That’s the happy lesson we’ve been learning these last few weeks as we’ve watched Smoked By Windows Phone challenges spread around the world. In January my colleague Ben Rudolph arrived at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas toting a few red signs, his Windows Phone, and a wad of $100 bills. His plan: challenge the techies to a fun and friendly 21st century duel, to see whose smartphone was faster at the everyday stuff people do.
Smoke Ben and you got a crisp Benjamin. Lose, and you had to face our camera and tell the world. Smoked By Windows Phone was born.
Flash forward eight weeks. Smoked By Windows Phone challenges have swept the California coast; Barcelona, Spain (where the prize was 100 Euros); and Hong Kong.
In Jakarta, a 50-person squad from Microsoft Indonesia recently spent three days in a local shopping mall holding Smoked contests (final tally: 640 wins, 50 losses). The event—check out their fun video—was even featured in the local media.
They’ve also been happening across India. A team of Microsoft student partners recently ran a series of challenges, giving away flash drives in place of cash. Here are a few fun shots. You can see more of their pictures and videos on Facebook.
As ZD Net noted recently, Nokia is also running their own Smoked-inspired challenge across India called “Blown Away by Nokia Lumia”. Nokia India has some good shots on their official Facebook page. So far, they’ve happened in Delhi and Pune. More were in the works for Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bangalore. Beat the Lumia 800 and you win 1000 rupees.
We can’t wait to see where in the world this goes next. If you spot a Smoked contest in your town, let us know!
