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."

Comments

Potential...

[DevStar]

When I first saw the phones I thought "loser". I was comparing it to the iPhone, Nexus One, WP7, etc...

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.

Kin? Pink?

[Rantastic]

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.

IM Support

[greg1104]

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.

Re:IM Support

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

The slightly more pessimistic hypothesis would be that IM is basically SMS; but without the length restrictions and billed as "data" rather than "text". Leaving IM out probably increases the phone's attractiveness to carriers.

Particularly if they are trying to move this thing as a cheaper "teen" alternative to the smartphone proper(just as the sidekick was the cheaper alternative to the blackberry), they'll need carrier cooperation in the form of somewhat cheaper data plans. Leaving out IM, and thus padding SMS usage, might well be the quasi-hidden subsidy that they need to make that happen.

Re:Doesn't really make sense...

[Rockoon]

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

Re:Way to go

[McBeer]

"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.

I was talking to my 23 year old sister about this phone. Here's an interesting snippet

[17:02] Sister: it looks cool
[17:02] Sister: too bad it's not sprint
[17:03] Me: Yeah. It'll be interesting to see what price details emerge this month
[17:03] Sister: it's cool you don't have to get apps for it, the features are built in
[17:03] Me: haha all the nerds are holding that against it
[17:04] Sister: and the camera capability is good!
[17:04] Sister: i don't want to have to hunt around for 20 apps
[17:04] Sister: it would work right away

Not only did she not care about the lack of app store, she saw it as a bonus. It looks like MSFT was definitely listening to a consumer segment when they designed the phone. It will be interesting to see just how many people like my sister there are out there.