promotion

Humans and the undead can use Windows 8?

Microsoft decided to take advantage of AMC's popular television show The Walking Dead for promotion of its upcoming Windows 8 operating system. A Windows 8 advertisement was spotted in the season premier, during a break within the first half hour of the programme.

Microsoft's Surface advertising campaign appears to be in more public locations than first believed, thanks to a batch of photos sent in by Windows Phone Central reader Micah. The Windows 8 tablets that are being developed at Redmond have already been spotted in a subway in Washington DC, and a handful of photos were thrown up earlier today.

Now we can confirm similar adverts (with a pink coloured Surface tablet) are featured at Grand Central station, New York. As mentioned in our earlier coverage, the promotion material is unique, straight to the point, and effectively shows off the design of the Surface. Check out a few more photos after the break.

Alan Mendelevich, the genius behind the AdDuplex advertising network for Windows Phone developers, has launched a new marketing and monetisation focused podcast titled AppBizDev (www.apbizdev.com). The bi-weekly podcast aims to aid developers and businesses who choose to launch apps on Windows platforms - be it Windows 8 or Windows Phone.

Ben ("The PC Guy") Rudolph has continued to take the Smoked by Windows Phone marketing campaign across the states, and he's showing no signs of easing back with more videos being published to the Windows Phone YouTube account. We previously looked at a handful of new videos being added to the account and commented on how we enjoyed the new style, so it's pleasing to see the company continuing to refine and push the platform using this successful campaign.

With the active "Dare to Live" tour in the UK, which is focusing heavily on the number of wins the platform achieves, the Smoked campaign is relaxed to put more emphasis on how Windows Phone can make participant lives easier through a series of challenges. Check out two more videos after the break.

Although some users complain that Nokia, Microsoft and AT&T aren’t doing enough for the Lumia 900, we can say we do like the presence of the flagship phone on our Xbox 360.

Many of you have noticed the occasional Windows Phone ad the pops up in one of the Xbox 360’s Home screen Tiles. When you click on it, you’re greeted with the image, which you see above, promoting the Lumia 900. What’s more, if you click on it and follow the directions, you can download and unlock a free Lumia 900 theme and Gamer Pic.

The Xbox 360 Windows Phone Theme feat. the Lumia 900

The theme is fairly basic—white with a Lumia 900 dropping in the background and “Windows Phone” emblazoned—but it’s effective and we like it quite a lot. The Gamer Pic is a lot more basic with just a black box and “Windows Phone” being displayed. At least it sticks out.

Combined with some of those free Windows Phone avatar props, our Xbox 360 is all about the Lumia 900 and Windows Phone, which is a pretty neat combo. Not bad Microsoft, not bad at all. As to how you can get these freebies, you'll just have to check your Xbox 360 and grab it when you see it (US residents only since it's an AT&T tie in).

Well, well, well. Would you look at that? An extremely attractive upcoming title from Ubisoft was unveiled yesterday with a handful of trailers being released on the web. The above introduction trailer gives us a tease at the foundations of Watch Dogs without revealing much at all (be sure to look at the gameplay video for more details).

But this is Windows Phone Central, so we have to tie in Windows Phone somewhere regarding this console and PC title, right? Correct, check out the above trailer and be sure to pay close attention at 2:14 onwards. You'll witness the camera pan out revealing what appears to be a Windows Phone. Take a look at our still image below for a clearer view of the time in the system tray and "more apps" arrow.

While not major news, and the smartphone used in the game video demonstration sports a grid layout of app icons, it's a little something to wrap up an eventful Microsoft appearance at E3.

Thanks to Mark, Xavier and Ronny for the tips!

UK mobile phone retailer Phones 4u has published their pre-order page for the limited edition Batman Lumia 900. Available for pre-order today, the special Lumia 900 is set to be in stock online and in selected flagship Phones 4u stores from June 1st.

As well as receiving the limited edition Windows Phone, each purchase will be bundled with cinema tickets to see The Dark Knight Rises, with a chance to win a VIP experience at the premier. Phones 4u states this offer is also available to those who purchase standard Lumia 900s (in case black isn't your colour).

The device itself features a Nokia app for The Dark Knight Rises that packs wallpapers, trailers, ringtones and a location-based game using Foursquare. The limited edition Batman Lumia 900 is available for free on contracts starting at £30/mo on Orange and Vodafone, but should you wish to purchase one without a plan, you'll be set back by £599.95.

Selected flagship Phone 4u stores, which will all stock the Batman Lumia 900 are as follows: Merry Hill (Dudley), Newcastle upon Tyne, Metro Centre (Gateshead), Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Plymouth, Oxford Street (London), Stratford (London), Manchester, Luton, Portsmouth, and Cardiff.

Source: Phones 4u; thanks, Alex, for the heads up!

The Smoked by Windows Phone challenge, the popular marketing campaign that was born back at CES 2012, has made its way to Toronto, Canada. The public are challenged by the Windows Phone team to see if their smartphone can beat Microsoft's mobile OS and pocket $100. As usual, these challenges include common tasks such as uploading a photo to Facebook.

Windows Phone has been steadily growing in reach when it comes to Canada. The 4G Radar and Lumia 900 are both available to take advantage of faster network speeds, and carriers are supporting the platform with stocking a number of devices. But we've yet to see a strong push by Nokia or Microsoft so it's good to see such marketing ongoing.

If you wish to check out the Windows Phone challenge, here are the event locations for the next few days:

• May 25: Yonge and Eglington - 12pm-8pm
• May 26: The Danforth - 10am-6pm
• May 27: Yonge and Dundas - 11am-5pm

Thanks, Charles, for sending in the photos!

Looks like the Nokia Lumia 900 on AT&T is starting to get that second bounce in advertising. Today on Extra (pop news entertainment show), host Mario Lopez and Microsoft's Margaret Arakawa were talking up the svelte flagship Windows Phone.

During the 60-second segment Mario and Margaret demonstrated the photo app and Facebook tagging/upload capability which we're thinking is always a strong selling point of the OS (especially with that massive social networking being front and center in the news this week). Mario also talks up being organized and how easy it is with Windows Phone.

The phone used was the vibrant and eye-catching Cyan Lumia 900, always a great choice for demonstrating the device to woo potential new users. Extra announced that they will be giving away no less than 10 Nokia Lumia 900s plus 6-months of AT&T service which is a good deal if you're not already on the national carrier..

Finally, to top it all off they gave away dozens of 900's with the same 6-months of free service to all of those lucky folks surrounding them during the segment.

This kind of promotion is unbeatable and the exact kind of exposure the phone needs to get into the mainstream mindset. Hopefully we'll see it pay off as a substantial increase in market share in a few months from now.

Source: Extra; Thanks, Daniel P., for the tip!