According to a Thursday report from Techcrunch, citing Deutsche Bank's telecommunications analyst Jonathan Goldberg, that Windows Phone 7 is one of the most important products at present for Microsoft is evident from the fact that the company intends spending $400 million this year exclusively on the marketing for the launch of the forthcoming platform.

Noting that Microsoft is rapidly developing Windows Phone 7 in competition with iPhone, Android and BlackBerry, Goldberg told Techcrunch: "This is make-or-break for them. They need to do whatever it takes to stay in the game."

Goldberg further added that, as per the information forwarded to him, Microsoft will probably spend something in the neighborhood of $1 billion on the development and marketing of Windows Phone 7. In addition, in the first year itself, Microsoft, its carrier, and hardware partners would likely spend "billions" on the forthcoming platform.

About the aggressive promotion of the Windows Phone 7, Chris De Herrera - a Microsoft Windows Mobile MVP in Los Angeles, and editor of the Pocket PC FAQ blog - said that Microsoft will probably follow the same marketing formula for the new platform as it did with Windows 7.

Talking about the promotional strategy that Microsoft is expected to follow, De Herrera said: "There will definitely be an online component and television ads, and I would also expect a developer campaign. In addition, there is normally some money shared with the carrier to do some co-branded advertising."