Windows Phone 7 will cost Microsoft $1bn in marketing and development in its first year, according to sources who’ve got a heads up on the plans being pushed around at its Redmond HQ. But will that mound of cash get Windows Phone 7 off to the right start in its fight with Android and the iPhone 4?
Jonathan Goldberg, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, told Techcrunch, that Microsoft will spend around $400m on marketing during the Windows Phone 7 launch which is due to begin in October. He claims that Microsoft execs told him that it and its partners plan to spend “billions” on the new OS in the first year.
Other sources claiming to be privy to Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 battle plan say it alone is set to drop $1bn on the launch: $500m on marketing and another $500m to soak up development costs.
But there are some signs that Windows Phone 7 won’t have the start that Microsoft would have hoped for. Out of the eight manufacturers announced by Microsoft at the unveiling of Windows Phone 7 in February, we’ve only seen phones from three – a selection of HTC Windows Phone 7 handsets, the Samsung Cetus and a pair of LG Windows Phone 7 contenders.
The others (Dell, HP, Sony-Ericsson, Garmin-Asus and Toshiba) have been very quiet about their Windows Phone 7 plans. HP looks particularly shaky after it gobbled up Palm and announced plans to keep pumping out webOS phones.
Microsoft has also been offering revenue guarantees to developers to keep them sweet on Windows Phone 7 while Apple and Google have lured them into their stores for free. On the plus side, Microsoft did tout 300,000 Windows Phone 7 downloads by developers earlier this week.
Microsoft got into consoles with the Xbox pretty late in the day and managed to use its marketing clout (and some pretty great games) to elbow itself into the fray. Will Windows Phone 7 be the same? Take a gander at our Windows Phone 7 hands on and let us know what you think its chances are? Will all that cash help it make a splash?
Out TBC | £TBC | Microsoft (via TechCrunch)
