July 2, 2010 by William Peebles
Microsoft have this week announced the cancellation of their European launch of their Kin mobile, following a number of restructures within the organisation. Launched in May this year, the Kin was heralded as an alternative option for smartphone users, but it has been estimated that since being made available for purchase, the company have only managed to sell 500 handsets.
Following the departure of Robbie Bach (Microsoft’s former head of mobile), the company has switched focus to their latest product – Windows Phone 7 mobile software. The Kin represents Microsoft’s first foray in to the world of bespoke phone manufacture, and was intended to provide a gadget designed to support young people in social networking, on the go. The team who have been working on Kin sales and development will now be integrated within the wider gaming and mobile team at Microsoft.
The Kin met with criticism for a number of reasons, including its inability to integrate with third-party applications, and its expense in relation to other smartphones available from different suppliers. The target market for the Kin was younger users, and it is thought that Microsoft priced the gadget out of the market.
Forrester Research analyst Ian Fogg commented on the Microsoft decision: “The social networking model is a strong concept, but even the largest firms like Microsoft or Apple have to focus. The question is whether Microsoft was spreading itself too thin in mobile. Given there are all these established players, when they launch Windows Phone 7 it has to be striking and different from the competition.
“The Windows Phone 7 interface is different from the other smartphones out there; it has a concept of hubs rather than applications, so similar activities are grouped together, but they need to ship a product that is bug free, compelling, and responsive. Like Kin, there is a risk they’re coming to market too late, but they can’t do anything about that.”
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