Designed specifically for people who are actively navigating their social lives, Kin blends the phone, online services and the PC," reads Microsoft's release touting the phones' release date and price. "With Kin, you get full, rich PC-like browsing. You can pan, scan and zoom in and out using touch gestures. And browsing is social..."
"I want it. I need it. When can I have it?" That was Verizon Relevant Products/Services Wireless's marketing pitch for the Kin One and Kin Two phones unveiled last month by Microsoft Relevant Products/Services, and on Wednesday the software giant provided the answer.
They're Here
The two models built by Sharp, equipped with touchscreens and sliding keyboards and geared toward younger social media addicts, will begin shipping from online Relevant Products/Services orders on May 6 and roll out to stores operated by their exclusive carrier, Verizon Wireless, a week later. Vodafone, Verizon Communications' partner in Verizon Wireless, will distribute the phones in Europe.
Kin One, with 4 GB of memory and a five megapixel camera, will sell for $149 before a $100 gift-card rebate with a two-year plan, while the Kin Two, with 8 GB of storage and an 8 megapixel camera, will carry a $199 price tag, with the same rebate offer. The phones will require both a Nationwide Talk plan, starting at $39.99 a month and a data Relevant Products/Services plan for browser and email, starting at $29.99 a month.
"Anything under $100 is considered a value play given the specs and features these device employ, especially with the generous memory space of 4G and 8G internal memory," said J.D. Power and Associates wireless Relevant Products/Services analyst Kirk Parsons.
Easy Sharing
Though lacking apps and games, the appeal of the two phones is in near-instant sharing of photos, videos, links and updates through an icon called the Kin Spot, which then prompts the user for contacts. The Kin Loop keeps track of all the latest tidbits from the user's most frequent contacts. They also ship with the Zune digital media player. The phones use a hybrid version of Microsoft's Windows Relevant Products/Services Phone Series 7 and a revamped version of the Danger system Relevant Products/Services that Microsoft acquired in 2008,
Designed specifically for people who are actively navigating their social lives, Kin blends the phone, online services and the PC," reads Microsoft's release touting the phones' release date and price. "With Kin, you get full, rich PC-like browsing. You can pan, scan and zoom in and out using touch gestures. And browsing is social; it's easy to share a snapshot of the Web site you're viewing by dragging it to the Spot."
Early reviews of the Kins, however, on tech blogs are not very positive, with some noting that its more like a quick-message phone than a smartphone, although it is priced like a smartphone.
Together with the Windows Phone 7 Series-powered devices that are expected to hit the market later in the year, Microsoft is hoping that the Kins will boost its flagging share of the U.S. smartphone market, which dropped for points between last October and January, according to comScore, falling to 15.7 percent of the market, while phones running Google's Android system have shown sustained growth.
