Microsoft Kin discontinued as sales fail to pick up
By siliconindia   |   Thursday, 01 July 2010, 14:53 IST
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Microsoft Kin discontinued as sales fail to pick up
San Francisco: Just 48 days after Microsoft began selling the Kin, a smartphone for the younger set, the company discontinued it due to disappointing sales. Microsoft took two years to develop the Kin which was backed with a hefty ad budget, reports Miguel Helft of the New York Times. Forrester Research analyst Charles S. Golvin calls it 'an absolute failure' and said he was surprised to see Microsoft killing 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 credible competitors to Apple's iPod and the iPhone and an array of smartphones powered by Google's Android software. A tablet computer project which was planned as a competitor to Apple's iPad was also canceled recently. Microsoft announced that the Kin team will be shifted to the Windows Phone 7 project which is due in the fall. The Kin was introduced in two models aiming mainly at the young users which emphasized access to social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The sales figures were not disclosed by Microsoft or Verizon Wireless, which sold the phone. Due to the disappointing sales, Verizon had slashed down the prices of the phones considerably. Brenda Raney, a Verizon spokeswoman, said the Kin "is still an important part of our portfolio" while Microsoft said it would cancel the pending release of the Kin in Europe and would work with Verizon Wireless to sell existing inventories.

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