UPDATED:Microsoft to give away Windows Phone 7 series phones to developers at MIX10?

Those attending Microsoft's MIX10 developers conference in Las Vegas starting today might want to leave a little room in their suitcase for a little present from Microsoft. The hosts of the annual developers conference are said to be giving each person attending the show a free phone loaded with the Windows Phone 7 series OS. The goal is to get developers working right away on applications for the new finger friendly software and copies a similar move made by Google. The latter firm gave away Android flavored Nexus One and DROID handsets to developers during the GDC this year, and a free HTC Magic at last year's I/O show. As we recently reported, Palm is offering a 20% discount on webOS handsets to developers. While the Redmond gang has given a discount to developers in the past, giving away a Windows Phone 7 would mean handing out beta hardware loaded with alpha software. For Microsoft, the end result could very well be worth the expense. And if you were wondering what kind of handset is expected is to be leaving Vegas with the developers, a tweet from developer Miguel de Icaza has revealed that the handset is a Quad-Core Silverlight 5 phone. Jackpot?

source: WMPoweruser



*UPDATE*
A new tweet that appears to have come from the Windows Phone 7 development team states that it is still early days for the new OS so there will be no free Windows Phone 7 handset given out at MIX10. The message does say that there will be plenty of free items that will be handed out along with some news to report.

source: Twitter