Microsoft throwing money at its mobile problem - about a billion of it

Windows Phone 7 launch date is approaching fast. We know Microsoft will be coming up with some decent hardware for the initial launch from LG, HTC and Samsung, with AT&T taking the prominent role. We also know that the mobile OS will feature tight and well-executed Xbox LIVE integration.

What we didn't know, though, was how much all this hype and subsidized development costs will set Microsoft back with. An analyst at Deutsche Bank has taken the effort to poll his sources at Redmond, and they have concluded that the whole shebang might shape up to hit one billion dollars, split about even between marketing, and then development plus manufacturing initiatives.

What can't be fixed with money, can be fixed with more money - we've said that about Microsoft, and it never disappoints in that regard. We just hope that Microsoft will recover those costs somehow. We don't know what it is charging manufacturers for the OS, but they surely have to sell hundreds of millions of devices with WP7 to justify these expenses. Hopefully, Microsoft learned a lesson from the KIN project, which resulted in at least $240 million writeoffs in the last quarter's earnings report.

Here is your daily video dosage of WP7 in action below. This time a developer has posted the video in response to claims that the email client won't handle HTML view. Obviously, it does, but picture attachments still have to be downloaded manually for security reasons.

source: TechCrunch and WMPowerUser