Microsoft Kin One and Two Unveiled
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Just when you thought teens had enough ways to connect to Facebook and Myspace, along comes Microsoft with a new line of socially focused phones: the Kin One and the Kin Two. (Microsoft)
April 12: Derek Snyder, product marketing manager, Mobile Communications Business, Microsoft Corp., demonstrates new ways of sharing information through the KIN Spot, Loop and Studio features. San Francisco. (Microsoft )
On sale today with Verizon, these new teen focused social phones represent a bold step for Microsoft in both price and design. They cost $49 and $99. (Microsoft )
These phones don't have the one feature we've come to expect in a snazzy head-turning mobile device: An App Store. In fact there are really no apps at all. The beautiful interface is designed to look like one big social networking app. (Microsoft )
Microsoft is betting that teens are going to find everything they need in this phone. After all, few teens are reading PDFs or keeping up with family finances using the Mint website. But teens do love Facebook -- and social networking is the point of this phone. (Microsoft )
The big attraction here is sharing and being shared with. With a swipe of your finger the user can share photos, videos, news stories or status updates with friends or a select group of friends. Microsoft calls this The Loop, sort of a social hub or the nexus of a teen's universe. (Microsoft )
The real story may not be the phone at all. Microsoft created a social website of it's own called The Studio where Kin users can view and share all of their daily activity in one place. All of my status updates, text messages, photos and locations show up along a timeline. A user can visit any date along the timeline and see what his life was like on that day. It's like having someone keep a diary for you. (Microsoft )
Microsoft and Verizon nailed the pricing and design of these two phones. But let's be clear -- they aren't smart phones, they're messaging phones. Would I give up my iPhone for a Kin? No. But then again I'm not 17. (Microsoft )
April 12: The KIN Studio is your KIN phone on the Web. Everything you create on your phone — messages, contacts, photos, videos — is also stored in the cloud and accessible from any Web browser. The content that’s important to you is automatically backed up to your own secure Web site and presented in a visual timeline to make it easy to view and share with friends. And with all the storage you’ll need, there’s almost no limit on what you can keep.