Kelly Clay writing for Forbes:

According to an inside source at Microsoft, Microsoft Stores will begin giving a minimum $200 in-store credit (as a Windows Store gift card) for iPhones on Friday as part of its “#timetoswitch” campaign, obviously hoping consumers will use the cash to buy a Windows Phone.

On the other hand, I really have no other suggestions for them for improving Windows Phone’s fortunes.

I can’t find evidence of this anymore, but I distinctly remember that in the summer before the Zune came out there were rumors that Microsoft was going to just give people licenses to the songs they’d already bought on iTunes to get them to switch, which Microsoft boosters said the company could do because they were such a money-making dynamo. They didn’t do that, of course, at the very least because it would be technically unfeasible if not monetarily unfeasible.

Even if they had, though, there are some problems you can’t just buy your way out of. The problem isn’t getting the iPhone out of customers hands, it’s giving them a compelling reason to pick up a Windows Phone.