youth-targeted mobile phones just 48 days after their release, due to
disappointing sales. While neither Microsoft nor its carrier partner Verizon
would comment on exact sales figures, a source told CNET News.com that sales of
the Kin to date are less than 10,000 units — significantly below expectations.
"We have made the decision to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7 and we
will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned," Microsoft told CNET in
a statement.
"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."
The move to discontinue the Kin comes
after a weekend during which Verizon slashed prices on the phones.
"It’s
an absolute failure," Forrester Research analyst Charles S. Golvin told
The New York Times.
Related Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20009336-56.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/01/technology/01phone.html
http://tinyurl.com/2dncndm
(DMW previous coverage)
it should not have been. it was a good phone and it got a rave review in he wall street journal. but the ads, obviously blessed by techies, were so confusing,,,so confusing that it was impossible to identify the key benefits. Hitviews could have made it a hit.