Microsoft To Flex Marketing Muscle With Windows Phone 7

According to Jonathan Goldberg, a telecommunications analyst at Deutsche Bank, Microsoft will spend $400 million on marketing for the Windows Phone 7 launch, a sum that underscores just how important this product is to Microsoft's future in this space. "This is make-or-break for them. They need to do whatever it takes to stay in the game," Goldberg told Techcrunch.

Some might look at Microsoft's massive cash reserves and see this expenditure as a drop in the bucket, but in light of the company's botched $500 million acquisition of Danger, and the failed Kin devices that ultimately came out of it, it's by no means certain that Microsoft will be able to market its way to a position of strength.

However, Chris De Herrera, a Los Angeles-based Microsoft Windows Mobile MVP and editor of the Pocket PC FAQ blog, says just because Kin was a failure doesn't mean Windows Phone 7 will meet the same fate. "With Kin, Microsoft didn't seed the market, and the value proposition wasn't there for customers," he said.

De Herrera expects Microsoft to follow the same formula for Windows Phone 7 that it did for Windows 7. "There will definitely be an online component and television ads, and I would also expect a developer campaign," he said. "In addition, there is normally some money shared with the carrier to do some co-branded advertising."

For Microsoft, the biggest challenge will be getting developers to build a critical mass of apps that draws consumers in like App Store does for the iPhone. Microsoft may succeed in generating marketing buzz around the Windows Phone 7 launch, but without the apps there's no way it'll be able to turn that into real momentum.

Microsoft says it has served up 300,000 downloads of the Windows Phone Developer Tools thus far, and the company is planning to launch final version on Sept. 16.