John Paczkowski

Recent Posts by John Paczkowski

Microsoft Gives Kin the Kith of Death

Earlier this week, Verizon (VZ) dropped the price on Microsoft’s Kin phones. Now Microsoft is dropping the Kin entirely.

As first reported by CNet, Microsoft (MSFT) has canceled the social media phone’s European launch and shifted the developer resources it had dedicated to it to Windows Phone 7. Once the current supply of Kins runs out, Microsoft will not produce any more.

“We have made the decision to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7 and we will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned,” the company said in a statement given to News.com. “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.”

News of the Kin’s end-of-life comes just three months after the device was unveiled and a month after it first went on sale–which has got to be some sort of record. Given Kin’s abbreviated lifespan after what was a pretty splashy launch, you’ve got wonder just how poorly it sold. Certainly those laughable rumors that Kin sales barely broke 500 seem a bit less so now.

That said, this a boldly decisive move for Microsoft, which arguably should never have wasted on Kin resources that it could have directed to its far, far more important Windows Phone 7 platform.

Next of kin have been informed.

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There was a worry before I started this that I was going to burn every bridge I had. But I realize now that there are some bridges that are worth burning.

— Valleywag editor Sam Biddle