Microsoft Kin stopped dead in its tracks

The awkward looking phone developed by Microsoft, rumored to have only sold 500 units in its first day, has now been laid to rest.

The entire plan for the Kin was mediocre at best. Most people didn't understand the reasoning behind the 'social phone,' as it was dubbed by Microsoft. The design of the Kin One was unflattering and hardly a phone at all, while the Kin Two had nothing to offer and looked bland. Worst of all, Microsoft priced it with a smart-phone contract, when the Kin has no supporting features of a smart-phone. Verizon even lowered the initial price--30.00 dollars for a Kin Two!--and still, there was no surge in consumers to buy the phones. Not even two months into their sales and Microsoft decided on Wednesday to cancel the entire line and halt all sales beyond the United States that were slated to happen this fall. Instead, developers who were once working on the Kin will now be moved to the Windows Phone 7 software project and all focus will be placed on that. The software developed for the Kin is in the opposite direction of the Windows Phone 7 software, so unfortunately all progression has been counter-productive at best. The Kin used mostly software from Microsoft's MP3 player line, Zune. Despite this muddled mission on Microsoft's part, the company wishes to integrate ideas from KIN into the new Windows Phone 7 software, but, any sort of visual proof won't be seen until later in the year. People who bought the phone within its very short life span will still be supported by Verizon, regardless, as confirmed in this Gizmodo article. Verizon is staying rather positive about this news, saying that the Kin will remain "...an important part of our portfolio."