Will Windows 8 bring Windows Phone into focus?

Just a few days after the Windows 8 launch, Microsoft's mobile platform gets the spotlight and some heavy support from the software giant and its partners.

After months of teasing, Windows Phone 8 finally takes center stage. Whether Microsoft's mobile efforts will have some staying power or be doomed to a short run still remains to be seen.

Just days after the large, splashy launch of Windows 8 in Manhattan, Microsoft is holding a similar event for its Windows Phone 8 platform. Also on hand were key partners, such as HTC, Nokia, and Samsung Electronics, which all had phones ready to show off. 

  At stake for Microsoft is its future in the world of technology and consumer electronics. While the traditional Windows software remains the company's breadwinner, everything is going mobile, and Microsoft could slip into irrelevancy if it doesn't catch up to the giants in the industry, Apple and Google.

With Windows 8 and Windows RT, Microsoft is attempting to move more toward mobile devices, first with laptops and "convertibles," as well as tablets, including its own Surface. Windows Phone 8, which shares many of the same visual cues and a similar "core," is Microsoft's attempt to build a comparable presence in the smartphone world.

"If you're one of hundreds of millions of PC users that will use Windows 8 this year, there is no better phone for you than a Windows Phone," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said during the presentation today.

Microsoft will spare no expense promoting Windows Phone 8, tying the platform into the same family as Windows 8 and Windows RT in a massive campaign that the company hopes will drum up attention for all of its products.