R.I.P.: Microsoft Kin Discussion

[Ed Hardy]

Microsoft has decided to stop development on its Kin operating system less than two months after the first devices running it were released. The Kin One and Two were designed for mobile social networking, but attracted few buyers.

Read the full content of this Article: R.I.P.: Microsoft Kin

Related Articles:

• Windows Phone 7: It's a Whole New Ballgame
• Microsoft Kin One Review
• Microsoft Kin Two Review

[Ed Hardy]

I know a couple of the people who helped develop the Kin OS, and I feel bad that something they worked on so hard has been pulled.

That said, I believe Microsoft made the right decision. The Kin OS was a stripped down mobile operating system in a time when people are demanding more from their phone than ever before.

It was a distraction from Windows Phone 7, which has a much better chance of successfully competing against the iOS and Android OS.
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[r0k]

Verizon smothered the Kin underneath its $30 a month "grown up" data plan. Sure there are parents who would pay $30 a month for their little darlings to use the internet. I believe I met both of them at a parent teacher conference and I was upset that their limo was taking up two parking spots. Honestly how could M$ and Verizon have been so stupid? Now if only VZW had lumped these handsets into their $10 a month "kiddie" or "featurephone" plans, we might be reading articles about whether or not Kin1 and Kin2 were an increasing threat to iPhone. Oh well. As Forest Gump once said "Stupid is as stupid does."

Let me just make this plain. Nobody gives a rat's behind about the friggin' phone or the OS or whatever. It's the plan they care about and overpriced plans are enough to kill (almost) any device, whether that device is mediocre or wonderful. It only happens a lot faster when the device is mediocre.

Microsoft's phone woes remind me of another industry where large American companies couldn't figure out what customers really wanted. The immense amount of inertia at M$ prevents them from being able to compete in an environment where devices come and go faster than M$ can get an executive committee convened to consider whether to offer a particular product line. What they've done to MS Office is a crime and that slow bloat philosophy heavily influences their mobile devices as well. Did they think we would all forget about the Sidekick debacle simply because they renamed it Kin? Did they think that by aiming at kids they would not have to appeal to an audience that even remembered Sidekick? Kids don't buy their own phones. Parents do. And parents can vividly remember this.

As I was writing this post, speculating about how internal M$ corporate structure killed the Kin, the SF Chronicle published an article pretty much along the same lines. Basically some big honcho dude came along and demanded they rewrite the entire OS and delay the phone an entire year thus pissing Verizon off and burning the bridge to lower cost data plans for the Kin1 and Kin2. Slow is never the right answer to be competitive in today's tech world.

[LandSurveyor]

It popped up out of nowhere and went away just as quickly. A rather odd cul-de-sac for MS to travel in.

I DO believe there is a space where the devices could have been a success, however. If MS had connected with the America Movil/Walmart/Verizon team, they could have been successfully used on the Straight Talk's bargain plans. Right now, all they're pushing are lower end, mostly Samsung devices, only one of which is 3G-capable. I don't think they would have been considered underwhelming there. In a room full of midgets, a normal-sized man is a giant. Plus I think it would have been a better demographic fit.

[RickAgresta]

Verizon smothered the Kin underneath its $30 a month "grown up" data plan. Sure there are parents who would pay $30 a month for their little darlings to use the internet. I believe I met both of them at a parent teacher conference and I was upset that their limo was taking up two parking spots. Honestly how could M$ and Verizon have been so stupid? Now if only VZW had lumped these handsets into their $10 a month "kiddie" or "featurephone" plans, we might be reading articles about whether or not Kin1 and Kin2 were an increasing threat to iPhone. Oh well. As Forest Gump once said "Stupid is as stupid does."

Let me just make this plain. Nobody gives a rat's behind about the friggin' phone or the OS or whatever. It's the plan they care about and overpriced plans are enough to kill (almost) any device, whether that device is mediocre or wonderful. It only happens a lot faster when the device is mediocre.

Microsoft's phone woes remind me of another industry where large American companies couldn't figure out what customers really wanted. The immense amount of inertia at M$ prevents them from being able to compete in an environment where devices come and go faster than M$ can get an executive committee convened to consider whether to offer a particular product line. What they've done to MS Office is a crime and that slow bloat philosophy heavily influences their mobile devices as well. Did they think we would all forget about the Sidekick debacle simply because they renamed it Kin? Did they think that by aiming at kids they would not have to appeal to an audience that even remembered Sidekick? Kids don't buy their own phones. Parents do. And parents can vividly remember this.

As I was writing this post, speculating about how internal M$ corporate structure killed the Kin, the SF Chronicle published an article pretty much along the same lines. Basically some big honcho dude came along and demanded they rewrite the entire OS and delay the phone an entire year thus pissing Verizon off and burning the bridge to lower cost data plans for the Kin1 and Kin2. Slow is never the right answer to be competitive in today's tech world.

you are kidding, right, r0k?! in view of the very recent hoopla around iPhone4, you say "Nobody gives a rat's behind about the friggin' phone or the OS or whatever." Or were you talking specifically to the K1 & K2 phones? And I'm not defending VZW's pricing plans -- I think they're totally outrageous, too. We can also throw in poor marketing decisions to the mix. <<shrugs>>

[r0k]

you are kidding, right, r0k?! in view of the very recent hoopla around iPhone4, you say "Nobody gives a rat's behind about the friggin' phone or the OS or whatever." Or were you talking specifically to the K1 & K2 phones? And I'm not defending VZW's pricing plans -- I think they're totally outrageous, too. We can also throw in poor marketing decisions to the mix. <<shrugs>>

No, I'm not kidding. Many of the 1.7 million iPhones sold were upgraders. For expansion, Apple will have to come out from underneath At&t.

K1 & K2 were smothered by mediocrity and late timing coupled with a high cost data plan. iPhone 4 is a great phone but could sell even better if it wasn't locked to one carrier (in the US) with an expensive data plan.

And I stand behind my remarks. Until or unless everybody offers plans like Tmo (where a no contract plan is only $10 more a month than contract plan so there is relatively little risk of being "stuck" for a $350 ETF), the most important aspect of choosing a phone is the company and the contract not the device or the OS.

Let's do the math, shall we?

Most expensive iPad: $829
Two years of 2 Gig data: $600

iPhone (subsidized): $199
Two years of data: $600 plus two years of voice $1900 plus two years of text $480

Droid X (subsidized): $199
Two years of data: $720 plus two years of voice $1900 plus two year of text $120

I could go on, but with the exception of the iPad, the device is chump change compared to the "plan". I'm quoting the $80 a month voice plan and the text plans currently offered by At&t and Verizon. Yes, from what I hear, At&t makes iPhone users pay $20 a month for text and I know I'm only paying $5 a line for text on Verizon.

[arb]

I did not get a chance to use a Kin or Kin2 because Verizon doesn't believe in marketing that phone at all in their stores.

I have seen only the hollow shells of a Kin/Kin2 and honestly between this and the extra high monthly service plan, that is what killed this phone.

This phone should have been considered a "feature" phone with the a standard "feature" phone voice and data plan. Not an expensive smartphone voice/data plan.

In any case, at least Microsoft can move on to full development on Windows 7 mobile. Will it be a game changer??? Don't know.

Right now I have a iPhone 3GS with iOS4 and it was the worst thing I ever did to the iPhone. It is now the most unstable, unreliable phone with crashes like I have ever seen on my solid Windows Mobile phones and with the previous iOS 3. As far as Apple fixing these issues... too bad so sad...

Will most likely swapping my SIM from my iPhone to an old Nokia I have laying around... need a working phone

[Magellan]

Engadget had an interesting article here What killed the Kin? -- Engadget Basically they are citing a change in direction and a long delay by MS causing Verizon to lose interest.

[Varjak]

Does anyone think that Windows Phone 7 (or whatever they're calling it this week) will be any more successful? I don't.

[headcronie]

Microsoft has upped it's marketing of Windows Phone 7's enterprise integration. If this new OS provides anything close to the management capabilities to WinMo, it surely will have the business customers. Enterprise Blackberry isn't always affordable for a small / medium business. I know we looked into it, and had to rule it out, as it was yet another service we'd have to manage, as well as pay for. It just didn't make financial sense.

While my boss has an Android phone, it lacks the manageability needed in controlling phone apps, etc. iPhone is in the same boat. Palm OS, while it used to be a mainstay in the business world, is barely an afterthought now. WebOS isn't even on the enterprise radar.

That's not to say I'm impressed with the way Windows Phone 7 is looking. I'm quite put off by what I've seen so far. I guess we'll have to see what it is like when it finally comes out.