Microsoft Uses Angry Birds Logo to Promote Windows Phone 7 Without Permission

With all the hype over Windows Phone 7 coming out, Microsoft released an image (left) over the weekend which used the very popular iPhone game Angry Birds' logo which suggested it was coming to Windows Phones. However, it seems something was amiss as the developer of the Angry Birds app posted this tweet in response to the image. The tweet read:

"We have NOT committed to doing a Windows Phone 7 version. Microsoft put the Angry Birds icon on their site without our permission."

Although The Guardian tried to get word from the Microsoft UK managing director Ashley Highfield regarding the matter without any success, but today Microsoft released a formal response which went:

“We’re big fans of Angry Birds. Our website team created a mock up image of aspirational titles for launch. That image was not updated to reflect our launch titles. We’re working with leading ISV and an extensive developer community to provide a great selection of apps and games to anchor the categories that people value most; Games, Entertainment, Music & Video, Photo, Social and more. We have already announced the first wave of over 50 games coming to Windows Phone 7, including Rocket Riot, The Sims 3, Bejeweled, Crackdown 2 Project Sunburst and others.”

In other words we will not be seeing Angry Birds on the Windows Phone 7, and it looks like Microsoft's 'aspirations' could get them into more trouble. The mock up was pretty reckless and it seems like that Tap Tap Revenge (also seen in the app logos image) also might have been used without permission (it's not in the Marketplace right now anyway). This is dangerous play by Microsoft which might not be brushed off in the future. When promoting games for your brand new OS you might not want to promote an incredibly popular one which is on a rival OS without even mentioning your intentions, that sort of thing can simply ruin any chances of it happening at all.

Via: Guardian