How do you make sure your phone is going to be a launch success from day one? You give all your staff one for free it seems.

That's what Microsoft has just announced it is planning to do later this year, when Windows Phone 7 launches in time for Christmas.

However, with over 90,000 staff globally that number isn't just a couple of hundred to get the ball rolling.

The news came on Wednesday at the company's Microsoft Global Exchange (mgx) event with Microsoft employee's hitting twitter to spread their excitement.

"90K down... just under 30 million to go: RT @simchabe: Woot. Every single microsoft employee will get a windows phone 7 #mgx", retweeted Mary Jo Foley, a blogger at zdnet that covers mostly Microsoft news.

Microsoft hasn't confirmed whether or not employees will be able to choose a handset from one of the now confirmed launch partners: Dell, Asus, LG, Samsung, and HTC, or whether one will be thrusted upon them - still a free phone is a free phone.

"While specific details are still being finalized, we have announced that a new Windows Phone 7 will be made available to every Microsoft employee as we launch in each market around the world.  We’re excited and remain on track to bring Windows Phone 7 to market this holiday", a Microsoft spokesperson told Pocket-lint.

At least it confirms that the new operating system will have more active handsets than the recently ditched Microsoft Kin, that according to unconfirmed numbers only mustered sales around the 8800 marker.

Depending on how keen you are to get a Windows Phone 7 phone for free, you might want to check out https://careers.microsoft.com/ to see if there is a job you can grab for later in the year.