Barely a month after launching its KIN pseudo smart phone, Microsoft has decided to kill it. Here's the official word:
We have made the decision to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7 and we will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned. 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 US to sell current KIN phones.
Well. That explains this week's news, I guess.
You may have noticed that I never reviewed the KIN. I meant to, but Microsoft didn't get me a device until very late in the game for some reason, and that sort of killed any attempt I might have made at being timely with such an article. That said, the KIN isn't a bad little phone, not be a wide margin. The only real problem with it, from my perspective, is that it required an expensive monthly plan, like a smart phone, but didn't offer modern smart phone features like an app store. Windows Phone, of course, will correct this issue.