Microsoft Tries To Boost Windows Phone 7 Appeal With Free Xbox 360 Game

Microsoft and its mobile partners aim to boost the holiday appeal of the Windows Phone 7 lineup by offering through the end of the year a free Xbox 360 game with the purchase of a Windows Phone 7. Once U.S. customers purchase any Windows Phone 7 from any retailer by December 31, 2010, they can choose to receive Halo: Reach, Fable III, Kinect Joy Ride or Kinectimals. The Windows Phone 7 platform is Microsoft's latest bid to become a better competitor in the mobile phone arena. The company has its work cut out for it, with the huge success of the iPhone, and with Google seeing 300,000 Android activations daily. Microsoft has placed a large emphasis on Windows Phone 7's gaming offerings, with the platform able to connect to users' Xbox Live accounts, not to mention a large launch library of mobile games. With a reported 40,000 units sold on launch day in November, Windows Phone 7 apparently had a modest debut, but Microsoft recently said the mobile operating system saw an 80 percent increase in the number of registered developers working on the platform since September.