Microsoft Employee "free-phone program" starts November 18th

The other day we had an interesting rumor about the HTC 7 Pro: Sprint was starting pre-orders on December 8th for the new device. As it turns out, we learned that this was for Microsoft peeps only (lucky them). That ties into the "free phones for all Microsoft employees" boast that we heard awhile back and verified recently by Ballmer himself.

Here are some more details of that program just given to Microsoft employees:

Do NOT purchase your Windows Phone 7 device prior to November 18, 2010 or after June 15, 2011 . You will not receive reimbursement for your phone purchase if you have purchased your phone outside of the start or end date of the program. (A preorder may be placed through an authorized channel prior to November 18, but not an actual purchase).

Seems like a fair system: employee picks phone and carrier, pre-orders/purchases through authorized channel, Microsoft reimburses you for the device. No other details were given but it sounds good to us!

Source: Anonymous tip (thanks!)

Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.