In what could be described as both a marketing stunt and simply a nice thing to do, Microsoft this weekend gave away its products to SXSW attendees that had both suffered broken smartphones and had their devices stolen.
Microsoft was closely watching the #sxswproblems hashtag in Austin and encouraged those with cracked phone screens or other annoying issues to tweet out their problems.
Many people did:
Thank you @Windows! #sxsw pic.twitter.com/sbcSBaCJhs
— Ben Hunt (@benhunted) March 8, 2014
Thanks so much @Windows for solving my SXSW "dumb" phone problem with a Lumia 1020 AND a ride to the airport! Awesome! #SXSWproblems
— Diana (@didihilton) March 9, 2014
.@windows just upgraded me to a Lumia 1020! Time for some great phone pics #sxsw pic.twitter.com/NU5IOSkCFa
— Shane Reustle (@reustle) March 8, 2014
But Microsoft took this idea to another level when a group of SXSWers had their laptops stolen from a rental home. The victims were part of the annual StartupBus hackathon and had traveled from Florida to Austin on a bus while they created businesses.
Less than 48 hours before the group was set to pitch their ideas in front high-profile judges, the house was robbed.
Hi @windows so @StartupBusFL got robbed last night. Laptops/phones/tablets. This is real #sxswproblems. Help. https://t.co/V8jlnd7spK
— Prateek Gupta (@prtkgpt) March 9, 2014
Microsoft then came to the rescue, supplying the entrepreneurs with new Windows 8.1 tablets:
Happy to solve this #SXSWProblem. New PCs replace those stolen in the @StartupBusFL! #ReadyWhenYouAre pic.twitter.com/ezD7ac54pn
— Windows (@Windows) March 9, 2014
Bravo, Microsoft.
