Microsoft Kin DEAD: Microsoft Pulling The Plug On New Phone, Sources Say

Microsoft's Kin phone was announced in April. It launched in May. And it died in June.

Microsoft plans to pull the plug on Kin and integrate the Kin staff into the Windows Phone 7 team following sluggish sales, sources "close to Microsoft" tell Engadget and CNET.

The company offered the following statement on the matter:

We have made the decision to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7 and we will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned. Additionally, we are integrating our KIN team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from KIN into future Windows Phone releases. We will continue to work with Verizon in the U.S. to sell current KIN phones.

This past week, Verizon slashed prices for the Kin 1 and Kin 2 by half. It seems the handset will remain on the market, but, as CNET notes, it remains to be seen whether there will be software updates for the phones (one had been planned for summer 2010).

The Kin received lackluster reviews when it launched, with people criticizing the phone as "not smart enough" and even "downright ugly".

But so-so reviews aren't enough to shelf a product. What really killed Kin? The phone may have been attractively priced for its target teen-and-tween demographic ($50 and $100 for the Kin 1 and 2, respectively), but Verizon required Kin users to sign up for a pricey, $70-a-month voice and data service plan--despite lacking an app store and some basic smartphone offerings.

An Engadget source tells the blog the troubles began even earlier, when Microsoft decided to change the phone's OS mid-stream, delaying the project and frustrating its wireless partner:

It seems that after doing some initial work on these phones based around Danger's proprietary Sidekick OS, Andy Lees -- the SVP of Microsoft's mobile division -- instructed everyone to go back to the drawing board and rebuild the OS based on Windows CE. It appears the company didn't want a project that wasn't directly connected to its Windows kernel. This move allegedly set the release of the devices back 18 months, during which time Redmond's carrier partner became increasingly frustrated with the delays. Apparently when it came time to actually bring the Kins to market, Big Red had soured on the deal altogether and was no longer planning to offer the bargain-basement pricing deals it first had tendered.

What do you think of the phones? Are you surprised by the news? Why or why not?

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Comments

[Morgantheaxe]

02:46 AM on 07/06/2010

Ok Microsoft here is some freeeee advice. Very very good advice.

1) Fire Ballmer. It'll give you that fresh start smell.
2) I dont care if it costs you a billion bucks hire back J. Allard.
3) Announce your new innovative vaporware in the pipeline. All driven by a new lightweight agile version of Windows called WinGO that is specially designed for portable touchscreen devices.
4)ReInvest in Zune. Run commercials and write apps like crazy. New skins...new cases.... Incorporate this new Zune in to a smart phone.
5)Create a pad running on WinGO with a phone, camera, usb slot, gps, blue tooth enabled phone, oh and a removable battery that can be recharged and has an 8 hour lifespan(sell those extra batterys like crazy).
6)Create a mmorpg. Better than WOW.
7)Immediately kill...not fire.....kill any employee that dares mention "cloud" again.

[Sabum]

02:10 PM on 07/05/2010

I figured that the ad company who made the hipster Miracle Whip commercial may have had a hand in the Kin's ad campaign. People,normal people, hate f_cking hipsters. So please no more "edgy" hipster ads. Oh and the Kin really sucked donkeys.

[ResearchtheFacts]

12:36 PM on 07/05/2010

Geez, this is an ugly phone. Who designed this thing? And, they thought there would be a mass market for this. The "bud" in Washington must be exceptional. yikes!

[mltaylor13pt1]

07:25 PM on 07/05/2010

Washington State does border British Columbia, home of "BC Bud".

[myzenthing]

12:05 PM on 07/05/2010

Doesn't surprise me at all. The Kin was an underbaked product (with an overpriced service plan) from the get-go.

[ResearchtheFacts]

12:40 PM on 07/05/2010

Just can't get past the awful design. Can you imagine pulling this thing out and making a call in public? Does really matter what os is on it. This is a horribly designed phone.

[myzenthing]

04:51 PM on 07/05/2010

Completely agree.

[NewM]

11:29 AM on 07/05/2010

As Engadget keeps hammering home: Both devices were LESS capable overall than a normal Windows Phone, and yet you paid the same price for the smartphone experience. I'm a little more inclined to put the blame on Verizon, who insisted upon pairing these phones with the $30 smartphone plan. I don't know if placing the Kins in VZW's 'multimedia phone' lineup (requires a minimum $10 plan) from the start would have made things go better, but they certainly couldn't have crashed and burned this hard.

The failure of the Kins from a practical standpoint is similar to why one can snap up a Peek Pronto (Google or Bing it) for cheap right now. The Peeks had a sleek Blackberry-ish look, could do POP3 and web-based email, and you could interact with Facebook and Twitter with a few workarounds. But that smartphone 'alternative' was quickly slapped down into obsolescence and redundancy thanks to the latest round of pricing changes at the carriers--even from T-Mobile, who's network the Peek runs on. There are even prepaid/no-contract texting phones and services--most notably from Virgin Mobile and Straight Talk--that made a separate email-only device a little silly.

[Morgantheaxe]

02:37 AM on 07/06/2010

Wait, you see the market, you see what HTC, Apple and Motorola put out there. You know people are calling for you head. You run down to product development and start screaming for garbage to throw out because suddenly the press realized you have done nothing for ten years but ride a wave of enterprise dollars that are not limitless and do respond to your reputation. Suddenly your reputation is that of a stale company. So yah you decide to throw out the Kins knowing full well it's weak to say the least. Thats right. You do it because you my friend ARE Ballmer.

[JasonMcl]

10:48 AM on 07/04/2010

Microsoft, come to camera three real quick....

If you want to get into the mobile market I have an idea for you that you should ignore promptly.

Make a "PSP phone" in addition to your regular winMo lineup. Include all the functionality of a standard smartphone, allow open development of apps and allow the phone to run all of your Xbox arcade titles (which are just little mini games).

Now make a controller dock for that phone that you could attach via USB to the bottom of it to play said games on. And viola! You have something that will not only give the PSP a serious run for its money, but also something that will allow you to firmly define yourself in the mobile market.

This would also help you sell more Xboxes for obvious reasons. Just don't be stupid and block independent developers from releasing their own games and apps on the phone (seriously no bs on this part it's important).

It should also have an IR transmitter to work as a universal remote as well as a bluetooth remote for your xbox. This is something I wish other phones bothered to do.

[J242]

06:27 PM on 07/04/2010

The PSP has nothing going for it compared to the DS lines. Let's face it, Nintendo OWNS portable gaming and the closest thing to competition that they have is the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad.

[JasonMcl]

07:08 PM on 07/04/2010

Well, I can tell you that a PSP with custom firmware is actually capable of doing a lot more than you would imagine. Including playing all NES, Snes, GBA, N64 games as well as traditional arcade, NeoGeo, Turbographix16, Genesis, GB, GBC and every single PSX game. They can also use skype, opera mini and youtube and play all normal PSP games directly from the memory card.

But the problem is that the PSP2 will of course remove all those features because Sony locks their systems down hardcore and the only way to do anything on it is to get kernel access and install custom firmware.

So basically all I'm saying is that unless Sony wakes up and allows for user submitted apps to run (which they never will) or an exploit is found and custom firmware is installed which will allow the same thing (which is unlikely now), then the PSP2 will basically be an overpriced toy incapable of living up to anywhere near its full potential.

And nintendo, which is pretty bad at security I may add, will suddenly find its renegade developers adding all kinds of new features to the 3DS.

But neither one would ever be able to replace an Android or iPhone.

[lockDown]

01:14 AM on 07/03/2010

Buh-bye

[gersan]

09:01 PM on 07/02/2010

Note to Microsoft:

When you are marketing a phone to people making low and moderate incomes, that phone must be priced low enough for them to afford it. They do not want to pay a $70 a month service plan.The Kin Phone should have been priced at $40 a month, maximum, with a pay-per-minute option.

[mcteeth]

04:42 PM on 07/02/2010

awesome - won't have to watch those stupid commercials anymore.

[ThaGovna]

01:40 PM on 07/02/2010

Honestly, one only need look at this contraption to know it sucks...hard. Tsk, tsk, MicroSoft. Should've known better.

[ResearchtheFacts]

12:37 PM on 07/05/2010

The shape is irregular at best. What a poor design.

[Morgantheaxe]

10:23 AM on 07/02/2010

This is what happens when your company runs around with they heads in the "Cloud."

[Imzadi]

08:40 AM on 07/02/2010

It will join Bob and Windows Me in the electronic graveyard.

;-)

[mukTech]

07:25 AM on 07/02/2010

Linux rules. I cannot stand Microsoft OS and their other software that are just prone to virus.

[mukTech]

07:23 AM on 07/02/2010

When it comes to gadgets, games, and anything other than the OS and their Office offering, Microsoft has been failing miserably since the early 1990s.

As someone just said, it is time for Microsoft to realize that they need to stick to what they do best. That is, creating OS and software that are virus-prone. At least, they know how to market them.

[MaxPowerXP]

01:12 PM on 07/02/2010

Where do you live? I'm just curious in which universe 90%+ desktop penetration is "failing miserably".

Ignoring the fact that an OS is only as virus-prone as its user.

[ResearchtheFacts]

12:39 PM on 07/05/2010

Thank you, and Macs do get viruses. The Apple people live in "perfect" where the branding is subliminally done while using the products.

[ThaGovna]

01:39 PM on 07/02/2010

Viruses affect Windows PC's more than anything else because most people...HAVE WINDOWS PC'S. It's like weave companies marketing and selling to black chicks. Why in the hell would they put all their energy into selling to Chinese women, for example?

Number of potential targets. Pretty simple stuff.

If Mac OS was the most prevelant then you'd be saying the same thing about it right now. Same with Linux.

[david5000]

07:14 AM on 07/02/2010

MSFT is always behind the rest of the pack, from games to all sorts of gimmicks they tried it all and they failed miserably.

It's time to realize it's a software company and should only play with software, they let slip many software companies that could have added value to their stock, but they only count on their windows that will be challenged big time within few years sending them to oblivion.

[release the hounds]

08:28 AM on 07/02/2010

Behind the pack in software as well. They've never been innovators, just followers who exploited their OS dominance to flood the market and drive out the real innovators. Their problem in hardware has always been that they can't piggy back or bundle their offerings onto some dominant hardware platform; they have to actually COMPETE..

[hdohighdesertobserver]

08:31 PM on 07/02/2010

Shame on them for exploiting their own dominance. Bast ards!