POSTED BY DAN YOUNG

Yes, there are many phones on the island, but the one I’m talking about is a six-story mockup of a Microsoft Windows Phone. Microsoft wants everyone to know they’ve got a smart phone platform too.

With all of the hype surrounding iOS and Android alongside the possible collapse of RIM, most people have forgotten about Microsoft. The people in Redmond know this and they are on an all out push to change it. The real question is will anyone care?

Microsoft has embarked on a major marketing campaign to get you to take notice. They want to get back into the game, and they’re willing to spend billions to do so.

The main challenge lying in front of Microsoft and their hardware partners is that there are but a precious few apps available for consumers. Without a vibrant ecosystem surrounding the platform, as there is with Android and iOS, all Microsoft is selling is its mobile operating system. As refined as their new OS is, without the ecosystem, they will not regain relevance in the market.

To recapture any kind of interest, Microsoft is going to need to spend quite a bit, not just to market the OS, but to build the ecosystem around the Win Phone platform. To their credit, they are.

The problem is that it’s a bit late. Between Apple and Google, there are more than 600,000 apps available for iOS and Android, and a few for Blackberry too. This is a huge deficit for Win Phone. No matter how much cash Microsoft may throw at recapturing relevance, they may not be able to buy their way out of this one.

Expect to see many new smart phone options start to appear in your local mobile store. You’ll see devices from Samsung, HTC as well as Nokia, Microsoft’s new hardware partner. You’ll start to see a number of prominent apps ported over to the new platform along with the development of unique, subsidized apps. Microsoft will spend a massive amount to create an ecosystem around its platform.

Lately, there are some positive signs for Microsoft. A recent series of surveys conducted by Appcelerator and IDC on developer interest in creating apps for various mobile operating systems, Microsoft took the number three spot away from RIM.

Even with this short-term success, Microsoft probably will never fully catch Apple and Google; Windows Phone may remain a perennial third place to iOS and Android. With that said, most developers are going to be conservative with regard to investing time and resources into building consumer apps for Microsoft’s platform in the short term. What happens in the long run depends on how long Microsoft can sustain their current level of mass marketing of the platform and their ability to iterate the operating system faster than Apple and Google.

Microsoft’s best bet may be to look beyond the consumer market and back towards the enterprise market. Here Microsoft has been a strong player; they have an installed base and relatively strong customer support. If they position their mobile OS as a seamless extension to their enterprise systems, they may be able to displace Blackberry as well as slow the growth of Android-based devices into this market.

Microsoft may have given Manhattan the world’s largest smart phone, however, have they given us a reason to get a phone of our own? Only time will tell on this one.