‘Smoked by Windows Phone’ winner auctioning laptop and phone for charity

The winner of Microsoft’s “Smoked by Windows Phone” challenge has revealed he plans to donate his free laptop and phone to a charity auction. Sahas Katta won a challenge in a Microsoft Store over the weekend when his Galaxy Nexus displayed the weather from two different cities faster than a Windows Phone, but Microsoft Store employees denied Katta his victory — claiming he had to show weather from two different states.

The story generated a fair amount of backlash for Microsoft, and the company apologized on Twitter and offered Katta a $1,049 Hunger Games Special Edition HP Folio 13 and a $899 Nokia Lumia 800 Bundle. Katta picked up both prizes from the Santa Clara Microsoft Store on Monday evening and now says he will auction them off on eBay with 100 percent of the proceeds going to a charity of Reddit’s choosing. For its part, Microsoft is not issuing an official statement on the controversy, but Windows Phone evangelist Ben Rudolph says he stands behind the “Smoked by Windows Phone” campaign 100 percent “and always will.”