Posted on 06/30/2010 5:30:36 PM PDT by dayglored
Microsoft is killing its ill-conceived KIN social network phones, just six weeks after launch. The devices were meant to usher in the next generation of smartphone.
The software giant told The Reg in a statement Wednesday that it no longer plans to launch the Kin in Europe and that it will work with US carrier Verizon to sell any remaining KINs in stock. It's been reported that just 500 KINs have been sold since US availability in May.
Those working on KIN are being moved into Microsoft's Windows 7 Phone team, to incorporate "valuable ideas and technologies from KIN into future Windows Phone releases."
That's exactly the same language Microsoft used when it killed the Zune player and turned it into an online music service – used by, you guessed it, KIN.
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
I didn't follow its launch all that closely. But it appears that Ballmer is purging the last of Robbie Bach from the entertainment and devices group...
Tech ping please?
What think you guys? Good decision? I’m not sure what to think, not having really looked at it that closely.
Yeah, the opening promotion (with the girl traveling around the country to meet her online friends) was interesting, but to build an entire phone around social networking seems silly to me. Facebook already has perfectly serviceable apps on all the major smartphone platforms, and there are already enough ways to share photos etc with friends.
Loser promoting a loser phone.
Here's an even creepier Kin commercial that flopped:
I looked at the Kin. I wondered who in the hell would want something like that. Apparently, no one.
I saw a lot of advertising for this, and every time I thought it was the stupidest thing I had ever seen. It is amazing they launched it in the first place.
They do learn from their failures - Bob gave us ‘clippie’:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_bob
Used to work tech support for Stac Electronics - funniest call I ever heard was a user saying that our product made Bob GPF...
That can't be right, can it? I couldn't watch a Hulu program without seeing at least two advertisements for it. I mean, the Shamwow stunk and Vince sold millions of them by advertising.
I suppose. It is a rather shocking figure.
Apparently so.
Huh? That's clinging to failure, lol. That stupid paperclip is just the most condescending, crappy little animation. It reeks of early web graphics and, yes, clipart. Blech.
All that money they have spent on just advertising and they only sold 500 in 6 weeks. That can not be good for who’s ever idea this was!
They're going to be working in the coal mines, just like North Korea's soccer team.
Looks like 1979...
One of my favorite Bowie albums in the lower right...
Look up Robbie Bach.
yawn...........
The best advice I ever received from one of the biggest brains in IT.
Microsoft 1.0 products, frankly, stink. Windows 1.0 was unusable, and it took until Windows 3.0 for it to become popular, and finally Windows 95 to be able to compete with Apple. Netscape ran circles around IE, but Microsoft kept at it. Microsoft ignored the internet entirely until they finally couldn't anymore. Microsoft Office apps were nothing spectacular for years, other than they were practically given away when other vendors had to sell for a profit. It was the last major company with a 32 bit operating system. VisualStudio was its best first, but still under featured.
However, Microsoft plugs away at its failures, and eventually does a respectable job later on.
Only 500 sold since May?
Dear Lord. I seen things get really dysfunctional over at Microsoft (worked there for a couple years and have friends who still do) with a very ingrained culture of managers more concerned about maintaining decade+ long fiefdoms by stuffing the groups with their own hand picked buddies, than kick ass.
But that is just crazy. Who the hell green lighted this project? Didn’t they do any focus group work or testing with the age group they were targeting before going into production?
I heard they told Jeffrey Snover he’d have to take a pay cut and a demotion to pursue development on Powershell. Fortunately, he did just that.
I don't think they had a choice - it was doomed. Not necessarily because it was a bad device/OS. But with Verizon, it required their unlimited data plan at $29.99/month (on top of the standard fee).
You could get a more capable Blackberry or Android phone for the same cost.
It seems like the Kin was aimed at teens, but they (or their parents) weren't going to spring for the Verizon unlimited data plan. I know I just upgraded/renewed phones for my wife and kids, and there was no way any of them were getting a phone with unlimited data for $29.99/month.
I suppose if Verizon sold it with their $9.99 data plan, it might have had a shot, but from what I understand, it is a "cloud" device and required lots of data transmission. And Verizon was probably not willing to give unlimited data on a special $9.99 Kin plan.
It was released oddly close to Windows Mobile 7. My guess is that this is something that was already in development by the Sidekick people when MS acquired them, and they were thrown a bone by releasing it.
I have one of those setups out in the “Apple museum” — as my wife calls it...
Also, its predecessor, the //+... All still in working condition...
Okay, that was unreal.
MS wanted Windows Phone 7 on the Kin, but development was running behind, and I don't think they thought they could give up any more ground to Apple and Google. They put their earlier version of Windows CE on it (they've got so many versions running around now, I can't keep up with which ended up on the Kin) just to get it out the door. Windows Mobile 7 is currently slated to be out the door late 2010, but in October 2009, Balmer said it should have already been done.
Anyway, they started with Project Photon, but scrapped it and are supposedly coming up with a new user interface called "Metro." The home screen will have "tiles" which are icons that are links to important features or applications or.... aw heck, just look at an iPhone or a Droid and you'll know what they're planning. It's supposed to feature music playing capability by including Zune software. Microsoft planned to merge the Kin with Windows Phone 7, as they both use the Silverlight platform. I'm also wondering what MS will do since they renamed their small footprint OS to Phone just before Apple changed their OS from iPhone OS to iOS. Microsoft was planning (IMHO) to make Windows 8 the tablet OS and restrict their small footprint OS to phones. Now, it looks like everyone's scaling up their phone OS for the tablets. Microsoft will probably follow, but right now they've got a lot of phone OS's out there, and they're going to have to clean it up.
I posted my thoughts on why they released it upthread, but in a nutshell, I think they were afraid that with their Windows Phone 7 being delayed that Apple & Google were going to have the market cornered and that they had to get something out the door.
MS has run a bunch of really screwy ads lately. It started with the Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates ads. The Kin was through something like four ads before you even knew what they were advertising. The first few just showed this girl Rosa and talked about her going across country to meet her Facebook friends, then said something about Kin at the end, without even mentioning it was a phone or anything.
Good phones - they are easy to use - but the concept of yet-another-social-network was dumb. Should have focused on just integrating tightly with existing social networks, rather than rolling their own.
The Kin phones are ideal for Twitter/Facebook/Myspace use, they should have just pushed a partner-deal with those social outlets.
?
All the Kin commercials I saw talked about Facebook more than they did the Kin. What am I missing here?
The issue is that Microsoft wanted you to get to those social networks predominantly through their OWN gateway, which was crazy. The phones are actually easy to type on - they got the shape/feel right (they look weird, but they’re not bad to use).
Microsoft tried to route stuff through their own gateway, and making it easy to sync your data to the Kin network (uploading pictures was automatic; it was a multi-step process on Facebook/Myspace). Needed to just focus on the OS/applications, and cede the “content” sites to the content people.
Doobage in the film container.
Those sales figures still seem crazy to me. It almost sounds like they didn't ship any to stores or instructed salespeople to slap anybody that tried to buy one.
ROFL... That was my first thought too, but I wasn't gonna be the first to post it... I would swear I see a pack of papers under that pile too... :)
I saw the ads for this on Hulu and I’m thinking “Who the hell would want one of those??”. Course, I’m not 16 and haven’t been for a loooooong time, so what do I know?
This has classic screw-up written all over it. MS bought Danger Inc. to get the Kin and actually decided to sell it as a product. Bad idea. Microsoft essentially needed “manufactured hip” for it to sell, and most teens can see right through a construction like that.
It also doesn’t help that Kin wasn’t feature-complete even for just a social networking phone. Social networking without a calendar? How is Brandi supposed to plan her social events?
From a dev and support standpoint it was not a good idea to have one phone OS based on CE and also have Windows Phone 7. This was destined to fail.
Ah, nostalgia, a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy game, a cassette tape, 35mm film cannister and some Bowie vinyl.
Yes, and it would be a crime if someone didn’t use Facebook?
“Doobage in the film container”.
That also must be dust all around that straw too...has to be.
“Doobage in the film container”.
That also must be dust all around that straw too...has to be.
No KIN do!
Microsoft Bob?
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