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Microsoft Unveils 'Pink' Phones As Kin One and Two
adeelarshad82 writes "Microsoft has recently launched two new phones known as the Kin One and Kin Two, previously codenamed 'Pink.' The phones are designed to appeal to social-networking-focused teens, which is probably why the marketing team has tried to spice up the packaging of the phones. According to a Microsoft official the phones are named Kin because they 'knit together ... kindred spirits.' The phones have a keyboard. The Kin One has a 5-megapixel camera, while the Kin Two's 8-megapixel camera can shoot 720p HD video. Both cameras include an LED flash. The One has a mono speaker, the Two's is stereo. One includes 4GB of on-board memory and the Two has 8GB. Both Kin phones have touch screens. According to the hands-on, the Kin phones are based on the same Windows CE core as Windows Phone 7, and they have an IE-based browser. These phones have no downloadable apps, no games, not even a calendar. They're not meant to be expandable smart phones; instead, very good messaging phones."
"These phones have no downloadable apps, no games, not even a calendar. They're not meant to be expandable smart phones; instead very good messaging phones."
Nice job, Microsoft. Way to ignore the growing trends in favor of your own way. After all, you certainly know better than those lousy consumers.
In all fairness, though, they'll probably sell like hotcakes in the niche market they're designed for. I just don't see it as a very big market.
Do you have any idea how long it takes to dig graves for twenty-three oak trees?
Whatever they do now seems to be a pale caricature of reality... why is this the case?
Were they always this clueless?
It's sad... so much talent.
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But then it became more apparent that it's competing against the EnV and the Rage. What Verizon calls MultiMedia phones. It will likely be on the lower priced data plan (or maybe they'll make one between teh $10 and $30/month package). Given a choice between an EnV or a Kin, the Kin is an easy choice. If MS were to clean up the multimedia phone space at Verizon, I think you'll suddenly begin to see a new market emerge. Although it's a surprisingly tough market, because I think a lot of it hinges on the data center and carrier integration.
Watch how this plays out. I think it possibly flops, but could be iPhone like huge, but to a totally different market.
We know that Apple protects their branding to a ridiculous degree... essentially arguing that any name with an "i" in front it threatens their intellectual property. So I wonder if Amazon will have anything to say about this new product? If I saw a news story about the "Kin Two", and the headline didn't qualify it as a Microsoft thing, my first assumption would be that it's a new version of Amazon's ebook reader.
Is it just me, or do the marketing folks at Microsoft have some serious deficiencies when it comes to naming products? Lets not forget The Monad Shell.
I guess this is what happens when they try to be creative. Otherwise everything is called either Windows, Business, or Office Something.
Ask Slashdot: Where bad ideas meet poor googling skills.
I recently purchased the HD2, it'd be a great phone had it not crapped out on my the third day, I would be happy with it. Android has taking a big share of the mobile market, I just hate it because it's more of a niche market - more for the social-network user - i don't care for rsa and do enjoy the windows platform; i like that i can use it as a gps modem with my laptop (ICS) some call it tethering, the only saving grace for the phone is it's huge screen which dwarfs most phones. Microsoft needs to get their "ish" together and make a reliable stable mobile platform. I don't want to choose between the iPhone, Android, or Blackberry only because no one else will step up.
Of all the things I've lost; I miss my mind the most. - Mark Twain
It looks like the bet they're making is that including Facebook and Twitter support is a complete replacement for the traditional IM client. I'm not so sure that decision is so terrible from a marketing perspective. The trend I'm seeing is that old school IM clients just aren't as popular among less serious users nowadays; I get Facebook messages from all sorts of people I know would never bother getting a "real" IM account, or who have never figured out they already have one via Gmail.
Ultimately the real limitations of this phone aren't going to apparent until the matching data plan is announced. How much it will cost to download all the Twilight ringtones and background images that will obviously be introduced for this phone? These are the important questions. So far we already know that updates from some sites are put into 15 minute batches, presumably to same on network bandwidth, which doesn't bode well.
I suspect that since it has no downloadable apps, that "bleeding edge" isnt really a concern.
Only needs a CPU good enough to run the included apps. Probably dont even need a GPU. With application control, you also get reliable antialiasing (only fonts that look good included) so perhaps a regular 100DPI display may be good enough (iphones and recent ipods sport a 200DPI display, if I am not mistaken,) the battery probably wont need to be nearly as good, the memory probably doesnt need to be nearly as fast either...
There are probably lots of ways to cut costs here without sacrificing much beyond that initial sacrifice: no downloadable apps
The iphone reportedly costs ~$200 in parts
"His name was James Damore."
Who's running things over there?
It's sort of like a Blackberry for young people. Or the Hasbro/Tiger Clueless Organizer, version 2.0.
It's about time for the toy companies to move into the phone space.
It's like comparing getting hit in the face with a pillow to getting hit in the face with a baseball bat. One is just an annoyance, the other, not so much.
How does drivel like this get modded up? Microsoft has one of the best privacy policies of any of the cloud computing systems, probably better than the telco that most "Smart phone" users have for their contracts. IE, it isn't the azure/cloud platform you have to worry about.
"Onboard storage, however, is not the point, according to Microsoft executives. In fact, both phones serve as a portal to the cloud, storing photos, videos and other data on the network, rather than on the phone. Neither phone, for example, has an SD card slot, executives said. 'Thousands of customers walk into our stores every month and ask us, how do I get photos off this phone?' said John Harrobin, Verizon's vice president of digital media.'"
Oooh, "portal to the cloud." Well, then, that answers all criticism.
The younger generation just totally gets putting their pictures in the cloud. Verizon will transmit and store them for free. The cloud storage will be accessible to, compatible with, and interoperable with with their friends' iPhones. The risque pictures they upload will be secure and private. The concept of storing them in an SD card is way too technical for the target market to comprehend. Not.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
With MS you make your computer a zombie. An Apple computer makes a zombie out of YOU!
And Google makes an index card of your information. Really good quote by the way.
As far as the phone goes though, It sounds like they've built a very thin client for the phone, not a wise choice in my opinion, but if they can keep the cost low, then it would do exactly what a phone was made for, communication.
Common Sense
Microsoft Global Compliance Handbook from wikileaks - http://file.wikileaks.org/file/microsoft-spy.pdf Any agency can issue a subpoeana and Microsoft will comply for an account over 180days old. Under that a court order is required. Verizon has basically the same policies without any account age restriction http://www22.verizon.com/about/privacy/policy/#info