Most Popular in Microsoft
-
Microsoft Launches Month of FUD
-
Verizon to Microsoft: Here're Your Kins
-
4 Things Microsoft Could Learn From Steve Jobs
-
Nokia's New CEO is a Former Microsoft Man [Nokia]
-
Leaked Shots of Windows Phone 7-Running Samsung GT-i8700 [Leaks]
-
How I Made Clippy Lovable [Book Excerpt]
-
Designing Screens for the Unlettered
-
What do I do?
-
The PC Will Continue to Thrive, Because Everything Is a PC [Microsoft]
-
Windows 7 UAC flaws and how to fix them
Verizon to Microsoft: Here're Your Kins
"Verizon Wireless will no longer sell the Kin One or Kin Two in our company-owned stores," Verizon spokesperson Brenda Raney told the blog Phone Scoop on July 19. "Existing customers should not be impacted. There are no current plans to change any of the services associated with either the phone or the customers' services."
Right before the end, Verizon had slashed the price of the stubby Kin One from $49.99 to $29.99 with a two-year plan; the more rectangular Kin Two was also given a price-tag haircut, from $99.99 to $49.99. But the carrier did nothing to lower the price of the devices' calling/data plan, which many pundits found excessive.
The Kin devices had one cool feature, and that was their ability to seamlessly port users' photos and other content to a cloud repository--I'm testing a number of upcoming smartphones right now, for a set of reviews, and I sorely wish (with some of them) that it was easier to lift photos and video from the device and into the digital stratosphere. But everything else about Kin was pretty much half-baked, from the social-network updates to the conspicuous absence of games and third-party applications.
Given the phones' narrow target demographic (teenagers and young adults), and lack of true smartphone functionality, I'm not sure there are many lessons that Microsoft can draw from this fiasco, except maybe don't try it again.
More Stories in Microsoft Watch
- Google Instant Vs. Bing
- Google, AOL Pairing Unlikely to Hurt Bing
- Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse Sees Light of Day
- Microsoft Snaps at VMware Ahead of VMworld
- Microsoft Launches Bing for Mobile Android App
- Internet Explorer 9 Image May Have Leaked
- Windows 95 Marks 15th Anniversary
- Microsoft's Arc Touch Mouse Lurking Around Web
- Microsoft's Internet Explorer Turns 15
- Microsoft Plans Slow and Steady Retail Store Pace
Most Popular Stories
iOS 4.1 Jailbreak is Close, as Bootrom Exploit is Confirmed [Apple]
Work on iOS 4.1 jailbreak continues
Google enters music war vs. Apple
iPod Touch Teardown Reveals Only 256 MB of RAM and No Vibrator [Apple]
Games updated for Game Center (soon)
HDR photo hands-on with iPhone 4 and iOS 4.1
Apple drops iOS 4.1 this afternoon as new iPods hit the streets
The extra safe, extra cautious iOS 4.1 upgrade guide
Parallels 6 to run 40% faster, launch Windows 2x faster than Fusion
Apple changes app store rules, to become more transparent