Alas, poor kin, we hardly knew ye. After years of development, and millions of dollars spent in R&D, the Kin One and Kin Two are being discontinued.
It was a sad and lonely life for the Kin phones. The neglected and unloved phones had Verizon customers wondering where they fit, and what market they appealed to. The price was similar to a smartphone without the phones actually being smartphones, and the service plan was higher than most similar devices.
Strangely, Verizon cut the cost of the phone in half just this week. Rumors of poor sales have dogged the phone – one claiming that the phone has only sold 500 phones nationwide which seems unlikely – but the quick decision to cancel the phones rather than seeing if the price cut helped, does make us wonder.
The phone will still receive Microsoft support, but it is unlikely that any new software will be developed for the Kin. The phone will not be released in Europe as originally planned.
Microsoft issued the following press release to commiserate the passing of the phones:
“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.”
Rest in peace Kin.
