Want to win an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus? Yes, you read that right. Yes, you’re still on WinBeta. No, we haven’t been hacked. But as part of a new promotion, Microsoft is giving Chinese customers a chance to win some of Apple’s current, and last-gen flagship smartphones.
Why is Microsoft giving away free iPhones? To promote XiaoIce. Cortana’s “little sister”. Last year, we introduced you to XiaoIce, a chatbot that users can befriend on Chinese social networks, then proceed to have extended conversations with. XiaoIce was designed to be more human than typical chatbots, so she demonstrates a greater sense of emotion and wit, similar to Cortana’s personality. While it hasn’t been confirmed yet, the chatbot could be a test bed for new interactions that may make their way to Cortana once proven to be successful, at least in China.
The Microsoft promotion challenges people to get XiaoIce to say certain phases, should they get lucky, they would stand a chance to win an iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 5S, 5, or 5C. We don’t know why Microsoft isn’t giving away its own products instead, but we assume it is because the iPhone may have a greater appeal in China and Microsoft is trying to get as many people trying out XiaoIce as possible.
The promotion is happening on China’s Facebook equivalent ‘Sina Weibo’, and customers will need to be in China to take part in it, but that’s a good thing I guess, that Microsoft isn’t handing out free iPhone’s internationally. We knew that Microsoft was taking a platform agnostic approach to software development, but this is taking things to a new level. Let us know what you think of the promotion in the comments below.
Note: Remember, we just bring you the news. Don’t shoot the messenger.
