Microsoft’s long overdue smartphone devices, Kin One and Kin Two, are now on sale online at Verizon Wireless and will be available in stores May 13th. The Kin One and Two are Microsoft’s attempt at regaining a hold in the smartphone market after its Windows mobile OS was outpaced by Apple and Google. In fact, Window’s OS fell 7.9 percent of the worldwide smartphone market in the fourth quarter, down from 12.5 percent a year earlier, according to ABI Research.
Given its slide in the smartphone market, could Kin One and Two be Microsoft’s silver bullet? There is a resounding consensus among critics that Microsoft is shooting blanks with its Kin device:
Aiming at a Younger Demographic
The Kin phones are marketed towards social media savvy users — the majority of which are teens. The phones enable users to stay in touch and share through the Kin’s easy-to-use social media features. With automatic photo uploads and “quick messaging” capabilities, Microsoft’s Kin could be attractive for the emerging class of young social media mavens. [BusinessWeek]
Carriers Scared of Kin
The Kin is Microsoft’s answer to smartphones, but carriers might have reason to be a little nervous. Given Kin’s tech-savvy, social media mavens will utilize their Internet Explorer-based browsers and automatic photo uploads, carriers might be worried users will use too much bandwidth. To offset the internet costs, Verizon could hike up its rates and parents of these internet-gluttons might find it difficult to justify spending extra for the bandwidth. [PC World]
Facing Tough Competition
If you’re in the market for a “quick messaging” phone, you’re likely to go with less-expensive Kin alternatives, such as LG’s enV3. Although LG’s phones have higher upfront costs ($79.99 for the enV3 and $99.99 for the enV touch), their data plans are cheaper ($9.99 a month vs. $29.99 for the KIN phones) making it a less expensive investment in the long-term. In fact, if you’re going to be shelling out $29.99 a month, plus $20 for texting, you might be better off with the Motorola Droid or BlackBerry with lower data plan requirements. [Forbes]
Not-So Competitive Pricing Strategy
The good folks at ZDNet did the math and the results are quite shocking. When you add up Microsoft’s features, the cost is comparable to its smartphone competitors. If you’re using the phone for its intended purpose (social media), you’ll need a data plan; you might want to talk on your phone, so add voice; then if you want to listen to music, you’ll have to buy into the music subscription service, Zune Pass. Add it all up, and you’re paying $85 per month for two years. Oh, did we mention, there is not an app store. [ZDNet]
No Apps Store
Apple made app stores a staple in the smartphone market. Unfortunately for Microsoft, they are slow to the punch. Kin devices will not have app stores, but Microsoft said they will eventually roll one out. If the time it took Microsoft to jump into the hardware side of smartphone market is any indicator, I wouldn’t hold my breath. [Forbes]
If you’re a social media maven in the market for a smartphone, want to pay Apple or Google prices without the features and could care less about an app store, you might want to check out Microsoft’s device. That’s a small market for Microsoft. In short, it was an underwhelming, however good-intentioned attempt by Microsoft in a highly competitive market.
No related posts.
