Microsoft Scraps the KIN

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced it’s KIN ONE and KIN TWO. The phones, available for Verizon Wireless Customers, apparently weren’t too popular because Microsoft has announced that they will be focusing exclusively on Windows Phone 7.

Microsoft’s official statement regarding the KIN 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.”

The KIN ONE and KIN TWO , Made by Sharp, are available from Verizon Wireless for $29.99  and $49.99 with new two-year contract, respectively. Both phones feature a slide-out QWERTY keypad, touchscreen, and powerful cameras.

Microsoft spoke of integrating some of KIN’s features into the Windows Phone 7 platform. Here is a list of some of the features found on the KIN that Windows Phone 7 could benefit from.

• KIN Studio allows all of the phone’s videos, pictures, messages, contacts, ect. to be automatically backed up to the internet.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq78H0YrIf8
• “The Spot” lets users drag files to a shared location on the phone, which allows the content to be emailed, sent via MMS, and uploaded to social networks.
• One Collective Feed – KIN phones have a live feed of social network updates stemming from your contacts, as well as RSS feeds from blogs and websites. This provides all of the most up-to-date information that the user cares about to be all in one place.
• Distinctive Look – Though the KIN phones, especially the KIN ONE, may look funny, they have a distinctive look. The most popular phones on the market have this feature. However, the Windows Phone 7 demonstration model is boring. It has no real distinctive features to set it apart from every other touchscreen phone or build the excitement that we see for Android devices and the iPhone 4 from normal consumers.

Microsoft will most likely integrate variations of these KIN features into Windows Phone 7. However, Window Phone 7 isn’t expected to be released until this year’s holiday season, so you’ll have to wait a while to play around with it.

Via Engadget