Microsoft has invested hundreds of millions in promoting their Windows Phone operating system. Earlier today, headlines grabbed attention with Nokia’s financial report noting the $250 million Microsoft paid to Nokia to develop models for the WP platform, not including future quarterly payments. Now, additional promotional fees have been leaked.

If anyone had any doubts about Microsoft’s commitment to its Windows OS series into the mobile phone industry, it might be time to reconsider that opinion.

AT&T has received $200 million from Microsoft to recommend Windows Phones over other OS platforms.

Apparently, Microsoft is paying each US AT&T rep a $10 to $15 bonus every time his employee number is registered on a Windows Phone transaction. The register number verifies the sales staff credited for the sale.

Speculation regarding the paid promotion includes the opinion that Microsoft is concerned that the OS cannot stand on its own merits against current OS versions and is willing to put its fortune in retailer’s recommendation-giving mouths – a real world adaptation of a pay-per-click, paid advertising or commission sale structure.

How much of that $200,000 will stay in AT&T Corporate’s pocket, no one is saying.

Windows Phones accounted for only 2.7 percent of the total share of the markets in which it was released as of September 2011. Some upturn may have been experienced in the last quarter, but no one is certain of exact figures for that time period.

Obviously, Microsoft was not nearly satisfied with those figures and is trying every marketing trick to boost its OS impact on the mobile industry.

Microsoft has not responded to inquiries if they are planning the same type of commission-based bonuses on direct sales recommendation promotions among its UK, European or other global distribution markets. The paid promotion might be in a test phase in the US; if so and if it is noticeably successful, Microsoft may consider the front-recommendation of other retailers or not.