Microsoft Kin Discontinued After 48 Days
By MIGUEL HELFTPublished: June 30, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO — That didn’t take long.
Just 48 days after Microsoft began selling the Kin, a smartphone for the younger set, the company discontinued it because of disappointing sales.
The swift turnabout for the Kin, which Microsoft took two years to develop and whose release was backed with a hefty ad budget, is the latest sign of disarray for Microsoft’s recently reorganized consumer product unit.
“It’s an absolute failure,” said Charles S. Golvin, an analyst with Forrester Research. Mr. Golvin said he was surprised to see Microsoft kill a product so quickly, given the company’s history of sticking with new products and improving them over time.
Microsoft’s consumer products unit has struggled to offer a credible competitors to Apple’s iPod and more recently the iPhone and an array of smartphones powered by Google’s Android software.
Microsoft also recently canceled a project to develop a tablet computer that would compete with Apple’s popular iPad.
Microsoft said that it would shift employees who worked on the Kin to the team in charge of Windows Phone 7, a coming revision of Microsoft’s operating system for smartphones, which is due in the fall. The Kin, which came in two models, was aimed at young users and emphasized access to social networks like Facebook and Twitter. While neither Microsoft nor Verizon Wireless, which sold the phone exclusively, disclosed sales figures, people close to the companies said that sales were disappointing. Verizon slashed the prices of the phones to $50 from $200 for the higher-end model and to $30 from $150 for a stripped-down version.
Microsoft said it would cancel the pending release of the Kin in Europe and would work with Verizon Wireless to sell existing inventories. Brenda Raney, a Verizon spokeswoman, said the Kin “is still an important part of our portfolio.”
A version of this article appeared in print on July 1, 2010, on page B6 of the New York edition.
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