Microsoft Kills It – The Kin That Is
July 01 2010 by Greg de Lima ~ 1 Comment
If you watch Hulu at all, you might have seen a few ads for the Microsoft Kin. Microsoft’s response to hundreds of smartphones has officially had its plug pulled. The lack of sales in the US has lead to combining the teams from Kin and the Windows Phone 7 and not releasing the Kin in Europe.
Microsoft has had its own problems competing in the mobile sector, just after 6 weeks of the launch of the Kin One and the Kin Two, Verizon Wireless slashed their prices $100 leaving the prices at $30 and $50, respectively. Microsoft targeted the mobile device towards teenagers’ social lives through Facebook, Twitter, and messaging (text & MMS). The inherent problem though, was the cost of the data plan along with the phone; who pays for the bill? The parents. The cost of the data plan, $70/mo., was not worth it in the opinions of the parents and the Kin’s market group was doomed to fail from the start, not because of the phone, but because of it’s target and data price.
With the arrival of other phones such as the iPhone 4 and Android based phones, Kin’s lack of applications such as maps, games, or really anything besides social networking was another fault that made this Microsoft based phone, a waste of money and efforts.
The teams are combined now. Between the teams from WP7 and Kin, where will the new technology go? Will the new phone be stronger, more capable, or will it fail just like it’s predecessors?
Image Credit - Shekhar_Sahu
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