For a moment, believe I am the Old Spice Guy. Look at that number then look at Windows Phone, back to that number--back to Windows Phone! Happily Windows Phone is not the iPhone. Perhaps in some twisted way, the fact there was no new holiday Windows Phone on Verizon was a good thing.

Overall, Verizon sold 7.7 million phones last quarter. Of that, 4.2 million were the iPhone 4s. In the first quarter that Verizon was able to sell the iPhone, it represented 55% of the total phones Verizon sold. Consider the Droid Bionic, Droid Razr, HTC Rezound, and Galaxy Nexus all launched around the same time as the iPhone 4s. With the exception of the iPhone, these are 4G phones, which Verizon happened to sell 2.4 million of last quarter. If you assume that the Droid gets top billing as Verizon has licensed the name from LucasFilm (personal investment) and the iPhone sells itself (which it pretty much does), that did not leave Windows Phone much room in its then form as an smartphone without LTE support.

Totaling 4.2 with 2.4 million gives us 6.6 million, or 85% of all phones Verizon sold last quarter were either and iPhone or a 4G phone – how many of that 15% remainder were HTC Trophys? Thinking about LTE being critical to Verizon moving forward it makes sense, to me at least, that there was not a new Windows Phone on Verizon this past holiday. It probably would not have sold well. With LTE support in phones like the 16mp shooter HTC Titan II and Polycarbonate-clad Nokia Lumia 900 perhaps Windows Phone can make a splash this summer winning the Verizon smartphone race with quality and not quantity.

Last year, Neville had an idea which I thought was fun, engaging and excellent. That idea had MVPs (and friends of MVPs) submit songs for a playlist. The playlist was basically a soundtrack for MVP Summit 2011. The playlist includes songs like "Hello, Seattle" by Owl City and "Bright Lights, Bigger City" by Cee Lo Green.

This year I wanted to resurrect that project and ask for songs to be included in the 2012 MVP Summit Playlist. However, there will be one twist: Instead of making your submissions public, you're going to send them privately to me. The final playlist will be released the 2nd week of February and it should be surprising what songs get included.

So if you want to have a song included on the playlist here's how to get your submissions to me:

• If you follow me on Twitter, send me a DM (if I need to follow you, I will) with your song selection
• If you wish to email it, send it to my email address
• If you wish to send it through the Zune software (Zune Social):
• Right-click on the song, in the software and choose 'send'
• Insert my Zune Social tag "tromboneforhire" (without the quotes)

The comments section of this post will be closed so no one accidentally submits on it. :)

There are a couple of things I'd like to request:

• The song should be available in the Zune Marketplace. If it's available through Zune Pass that's all the better. If it's not, then it should be a song that's at least available for preview/purchase.
• We're all adults here, if you want to submit a 'parental advisory' track go ahead. If you plan to have little ones listen to this play list, just delete those songs from the list before pressing play :)
• I want to ask that there be one person, one song for now. If I feel more songs can be added, then I'll let you know when additional submissions can be made.
• Songs only, not complete albums, please.

Thanks, folks. Let's make an awesome playlist for us to listen to on the travels to Bellevue, WA next month.

A boy fell into a mud puddle…

Now for the clean version, he took a bath.

That was the joke shared by commenter Ultraman1970. This joke won him a copy of Gears of War 3. You get it, right? It is the boy who was dirty and he (Ultraman1970) won because it (the joke) was submitted to the GLW3SNMPHD Giveaway post (that contest). Share your joke for a chance to win 3 months of Xbox Live and Zune Pass. The winner will be announced sometime tomorrow evening!

Would you gain weight?

That was the joke that won @AnXboxDude a copy of the Trials HD / Limbo / ‘Splosion Man bundle pack. There’s still an opportunity to win great prizes, just post your own joke in the comments of the original GLW3SNMPHD Giveaway post! Oh, and if the above were true, then I may have been using the elliptical improperly for a while.

Happy Holidays from Inside the Circle! What says holidays like free gifts from awesome websites? This December take part in the The Gunstringer Live Wars 3 ‘Splosion Ninja Music Pass HD Giveaway… or the GLW3SNMPHD Giveaway for short. We are giving away a lot of games, online memberships, and family fun for those of you with Xbox, Zune, Kinect, or Windows Phone. Over the next two weeks we will have four giveaway prizes. What we have are as follows:

• Trials HD, Limbo, and ‘Splosion Man (Rated Everyone 10+ - Teen) Xbox Arcade Bundle Game
• Gears of War 3 (Rated Mature) Xbox Game
• 3 Months of Xbox Live & 3 Months of Zune Music Pass Membership Cards
• Gunstringer / Fruit Ninja Kinect (Rated Everyone - Teen) Xbox Live Download Card

Each winner will be announced on Tuesday (12/6 or 12/13) or Friday (12/9 or 12/16). For a chance to win, all you have to do is reply to this post with a joke in the comments section below. The joke can be long or short, just nothing overly crude, graphic, racy, or of questionable content. That means dead baby jokes are out of place (so are “that’s what she said” quips). Winners will be chosen at random from the comments below. Just note, once you win one giveaway prize you cannot win another during this contest. Feel free to tell as many jokes as you want. The contest is open to those in the United States and Canada. Good luck and be funny (looking)!