RIM's Pain is Microsoft's Attempted Gain

Redmond dangles Windows Phones in front of BlackBerry users. Will it work?

I guess when your market share would make for a really good golf score on a tough hole, you have to do anything to gain ground. In Microsoft's case, it's giving away 25 Windows Phone devices BlackBerry users frustrated with this week's outage.

RIM's BlackBerry services are finally back in operation after a multi-day, multi-nation outage that couldn't have come at a worse time for the company. It's struggling to keep users, who are defecting left and right to Androids and iPhone.

So with its market share sitting at a paltry 5.8 percent, according to comScore, Microsoft decided to make a little hay of it. Ben Rudolph, a PC guy at Microsoft, sent this tweet on Wednesday:

"#DearBlackberry users, Frustrated with your BB? Tell me why your want to upgrade to a #windowsphone – I’ve got 25 to give away"

This is becoming something of a trend. When HP axed the webOS-based Veer smartphone, Brandon Watson, a director for Windows Phone 7 developer relations, sent out a tweet offering stranded webOS developers free tools and training on Windows Phone.

Watson also made a bet with Scott Adams, author of the comic strip Dilbert. Watson sent Adams a Windows Phone 7 device to use, and if Adams didn't like it, Watson promised to donate $1,000 to a charity of Adams' choice. Unfortunately for charity, Adams liked the phone.

So what are your thoughts on this? Lame publicity stunts or Microsoft doing what it has to do? ChangeWave has found that Windows Phone users are happier than BlackBerry users, so Microsoft does have a leg on which to stand. But what do you say?

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