Microsoft's KIN is dead, long live Windows Phone 7

Give aways?

They didn't try to give them away like they did with the Zune?

Is anyone on watch over there?

This product had little chance form day one. I pointed it out to my wife and she couldn't understand why Microsoft would release something so ineffective when the game had moved on so far with Android and Google. For f*&k - she works in Health + Beauty products and has little or no real understanding of tech. What the f*&k were Ozzie, Mundie, Ballmer and turner doing releasing this rubbish?

If I were a MSFT stockholder I'd be welll on the way to selling on my stock. This company is only going one way.

Epic!

and, no messing!

WinCE, PocketPC, AutoPC, PC muscle...

Seriously, it's getting to the point now where Microsoft's mobile phone efforts are going beyond laugh-out-loud funny and you're starting to pity them like an old man disappearing into his own dementia.

I honestly feel sorry for the team who worked on this because they must be feeling as depressed and useless as a geriatric who means well by doing the washing up but then sees you take it all back to the sink to wash it again because their best efforts weren't good enough to remove the old food, even though they swore blind it was clean when they did it.

Perhaps MS's entire mobile operation should be put into a home, just like Nokia found a nice little foundation willing to care for Symbian in its final years.

Nice Windows Phone 7 tag

Verizon is off the short list for the WP7 one would think, but it's up in the air whose idea that was. Who's the largest US cellular provider again? Oh, my.

The announcement takes care to state critical features of the immensely popular Kin will be carried forward to WP7. That's a bold stroke. Not what I'd have done.

I wonder how many Kin phones were baked into that Microsoft funded IDC study that claimed a market for 31 million Windows Mobile handsets by the end of next year. Lots?

The phone is cloud-backed. No announcement yet on how long the servers will remain up, and precious customer memories retained. I'd caution people to back their stuff up - the thing is heir to the SideKick, and if you don't know how that worked out, google "Microsoft Danger".

The ads are still running on TV, print and on the web, but the radio station I listen to has stopped pumping the thing. Prepaid ads probably. People are still astroturfing on facebook, myspace and twitter as well. 200,000 facebook fans? I wonder how much that cost all together. It must have been a good chunk of cash - I've seen dozens of TV ads alone, on multiple stations.

Oh, how I envy the popular mobile app developer today. I can only imagine the rare privilege of being the one to handle the Windows Phone 7 evangelists' phone calls. You don't get a shot like that every year.

2 Years too late and $99 dollars too much - Oh and Danger etc..,

There is FAIL and then there is KINFAIL or even, possibly... MSFAIL if this happens too often.

...just 500 KINs have been sold...

*choke* Even by Barmy Ballmer's standards that's EPIC FAIL! 'Bob' anyone?

In most cases, the longer a company engages with an industry sector the better they get to know it, M$ seem to be getting worse and worse at Mobile as the years drag on for them. Give it up.

An unbelievable fuck up

How could Microsoft have released such a fatally flawed product to market? This was dead from the get go, and every commentator could see it.

It released a featurephone in the era of the smartphone. It's just a sign of the massive culture of extravagance and complacency that Microsoft live in.

This should have been killed way early. They should have killed this before announcing WinPho7. How could they possibly allow an internal mobile team to detract from WinPho7? This is one of the reasons why the man smiling in the picture in your article no longer works at Microsoft.

Goodness

This is even more pitiful than the Zune.

It's interesting to see that the downfall of MS is more of a whimper than a bang.. The genie was let out of the bottle with Vista- it didn't kill them outright, but it was around and unpopular for long enough for the Great Unwashed to get psychologically used to the idea of there being a choice.

The adventurous even tried running Linux or MacOS, le gasp!

Anyway, long story short, they ruined their own appearance of complete control. Ever since then, under the tender gaze of Uncle Fester, they've been seen as increasingly desperate. Increasingly lame products and the marketing equivalent of Dad Dancing.

Just look at the stories all over the IT gutter press (hi, reg!). It's mostly Google and Apple, and some piss-dull storage stuff- MS hardly registers most days. That's the most telling bit- they're not even relevant enough to be properly hated anymore.

The first people I would sack..

Would be the chumps who decide brand names in MS.

Zune ? , Kin ?

Forget if the product is or isn't any good , or if the price point is way off the mark.

Marketing people, first up against the wall when I get in power !!

Can't believe no-one’s posted this, but....

'KIN hell

It's a Kin disgrace...

the way Microsoft have dropped the ball in the mobile/pda sector. My current phone is Windows mobile 6.5, and it although the hardware is actually quite impressive the crud OS from Microsoft is about as frustrating as buying something online using “via Visa”, it elicits curses and spitting every time I make a call, it’s total and utter sh1t.

I just can't begin to comprehend the arrogance that makes them want to go up against an evidently much love brand like Apple (personally I detest them, I like the product but detest the company) and not even try to compete on price in the middle of a recession. Come off it!

Bill gates needs to drop the fluffy image get back to Redmond with a bl00dy great hatchet and start putting a bit of vision back into the place. Evidently the bald bean counter, with big mouth, they have running business at the moment isn't up to the job.

So, I’m left with a choice of Android, Blackberry or iphone. I think I’ll get onto ebay and go buy a second hand retro phone.

The following of the beginning of the end

one fail after another.. One abandonned product after another

BoB, Vista, Kin,

Nobody pays for office 2010 or windows 7. (just use the beta.)

i think, the time has come to stop reporting about Microsoft, and let it die a slow and death.

I can't wait for the Amiga like stories in a decade or two between some of the patent holders..

Zune Dead?

"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."

This statement is incorrect in so many ways.. MS killed off all of their OLDER Zune players. Zune HD is still alive. The online music service didn't come after the zune or even replace the Zune.. the service has always been something that you could use with or without a zune. The zune is just heavily integrated such that you can buy/download songs from the zune itself.