Microsoft Gives Out 90,000 Free Phones to Staff

Free phones for all 95,000 Microsoft employees.

Last week Microsoft announced that it would be sending out preview Windows Phone 7 devices to developers this week. However, Redmond also warned that they had a very limited supply. Could that be because they're giving away 90,000 Windows Phone 7 cell phones, one to each and every Microsoft employee?

Mary Jo Foley yesterday retweeted a message from a Microsoft employee who was gushing about getting a fancy new phone. The original message came from Charl Lee-Pearce, Senior Marketing Manager for Emerging Media at Microsoft.

Giving every employee a WP7 device is a great way to speed up the bug squashing process. With so many Softies using WP7 and reporting back to base, it's likely the majority of bugs will be ironed out before the OS launches publicly in the fall.

Now, let's just hope no one gets drunk and loses it in a bar.