Microsoft: Kin and Windows Phone 7 will share more technology over time
By Chris Ziegler 
posted April 12th 2010 8:26PM
posted April 12th 2010 8:26PM
We chatted with Microsoft GM Matt Bencke today to get a feel for why there isn't more technical synergy between two products that obviously share the overwhelming majority of their DNA, and basically, the Reader's Digest version of the conversation is that they intend to get there eventually. "We're going to share more and more in terms of code," he said -- though we weren't able to nail him down to a timeline for making that happen -- ultimately agreeing that it was fair to say you'd start to see the platforms converge over time. If we had to guess, Kin's suffering from the fact that it was approved and set in stone before Windows Phone 7 even existed in its current incarnation, and it's going to take Redmond a little while to get the projects synced. See the critical portion of the talk on video after the break.
I LOVE THE WE TALK!
@KrazyCalvin Not to mention this is my first time being first.
@KrazyCalvin HTC+KIN=TweenGold
still prefer the incredible though
@KrazyCalvin
boomdeyada
Is he doing the westside sign?
@H264 Looks more vulcan.
@p0p0 Ima blood. watch were you walk son
@H264 Looks like he has some kind of arthritis in his hands.
P.S. SMH @ your username. Ogg theora FTW
@H264 LOL.
@IAMKITTY Bloods don't say son...
what you know bout the hood B****?
Sooo weee to the apple haterz!
mmm sort of started liking this phone...
Out of the box i could create, store and share all my contents in to my social, interesting... let us wait and see how this gets picked up...
Apple sure is good at stealing headlines..
Im really liking this phone. wouldn't mind seeing what other hardware manufacturers, like HTC, could do with this platform.
What happened to the comments?
@Kwame Nkrumah Not sure. I thought they got turned off by Engadget lol.
@NYNY What you say?
maybe there's a hope for 3rd party apps after all...
@theehokage Hope so. I was looking forward to at least seeing support for Zune apps. Microsoft did say that eventually there would be HVGA WP7 phones.
I hadn't noticed until I read the Kin article on slashgear, but this phone doesn't have a calender right now! And there are some features on facebook (like events) and twitter (no photo support) that should work their way onto the phone.
I don't know, I think that an entry level phone like this could have a very nice little market just as it is. Smart phones like Iphone and most Android phones are kind of expensive for many college students and teens.
A zune by itself is pretty fantastic, add phone and social features and I think any consumer would be pretty happy.
He said..."we are only three public steps to unveiling the strategy..." Sounds like there is more to come...oh boy...I see a Courier in my future
Kin doesn't support IM (Instant Messaging). how exactly are they going to sell that to teens?
@spin cycle
All the teens that I know (I have a 14 year old) use text not IM. In fact, I would guess that most IM'ing is done by people in their mid 20's- mid 30's. People who sit in front of computers all day and don't understand why you would need a smartphone when you have a something better sitting right there!
:-)
Come on microsoft, what do you want us to buy? The Kin or the Windows Phone? Why not milk the life out of Windows Phone first then release the Kin.
@badmouse
I thought they made it pretty clear who they are targeting Kin to and it is not the Windows Phone 7 users. Kin is targeted at Social Amplifiers, people that want to make the most of their social lives. Windows Phone 7 is aimed at Life Maximizers, users with very busy lives that need a phone to stay organized.
Most readers of this blog are probably not socialites, myself included but I bet there are a lot of customers out there that are.
@incendy - i still think having just one OS for their mobile platform is still the way to go. it not only confuse consumers but even developers. Why would you develop a software if you know your just grabbing half the market. Even it has the same core as win phone (win ce), its kinda lame, knowing that your app will look funky weird on other phones.
@badmouse
I agree with you in wishing that was possible but the licensing costs and hardware requirements put Windows Phone 7 out of the price range of a lot of users, especially the normal user that Kin is targeting.
This is all my perception though and it will be interesting to see how it is priced. I see this phone being marketed to an age group that is normally in the lower income class where the Iphone and Windows Phone 7 seem to be marketed more to the business class.
@badmouse However the target demographic has been going for the Sidekick because it was more automated and pointed to certain features. Having a WP7 on the kin would be too much for the target consumer and requires them to manage multiple apps. There's no issue with this, but some people don't want that kind of management. They just want a phone to do it, and that's what the Kin does. It takes out the middle man and just puts you into the act.
This will also lower the cost of the phone too, making it super attractive to parents and teens (in theory).
@groovedafied
I'll say one thing: People in a lower income bracket can't afford any kind of smartphone. Even if it's trying to look like a feature phone. Verizon requires even moderately internet enabled phones to have a data. These things are going to be piping data constantly so there's no way you are going to be able to get one of these with the limited $10 extra data plan. This is going to be an extra $30 a month! So, that part definitely doesn't make sense to me.
Good to see Microsoft working on unfiying its products and services. It's almost as if they had a plan...
@derekerdmann - id love to see an app working exactly the same way for both Kin and WinPhone7 without the developer tweaking the GUI. But Kin to me is just another one of Microsoft's big mistake. Its good but they should have just based it from WinPhone7. They havent even finalized WinPhone7 and they're already bringing out another one. WTF to the max. Lol
@badmouse In case you missed it in the article,
"If we had to guess, Kin's suffering from the fact that it was approved and set in stone before Windows Phone 7 even existed in its current incarnation, and it's going to take Redmond a little while to get the projects synced."
Kin came first.
In addition, the Kin doesn't support third-party apps; its intention is to be more like today's feature phones, except that it integrates with the social parts of people's lives.
The other part of the announcement that you might have missed is that this is geared for teenagers - it's a specific line of devices for a specific demographic. Most of those who would be interested in Windows Phone 7 wouldn't give this phone a second look; not because it's bad, but because it's for a different group of people.
Wait for the pricing announcement. We'll see what happens then.
Or, the Kin OS could be killed. Either way.
I assume that "I love the we talk" is some new-fangled saying... anyone care to "give me the 411" on what the hell it means?
Microsoft: We realise that customers are not entirely convinced by Windows Series 7 Phone Series. Well, we just want you all to know, that we are not entirely convinced either.
C.
You know, I'm just talking out my ass here so don't take this seriously or anything. I like to fantasize about this kind of stuff and pretend I know how fortune 500 companies work so bare with me. ;-)
Here's my theory for why there is a Kin and a Windows Phone 7: Yeah, they share a lot of the same DNA because, as they have pointed out, they are both based on Zune. However I don't think it's that Kin comes to us as a lesser, cut down version of Windows Phone 7 but rather that they both come from the Zune core and split from there. I'll bet that Microsoft saw that they really needed to rase the bar with what was going to be windows mobile 7. They couldn't afford any miss steps so they had two (or more) teams working on replacements for Windows Mobile 6.5. One was basically the guys who made Zune and wanted to just make a Zune Phone. And then there was another team of guys who thought Zune wasn't going to cut it and wanted to show them how it's done. The underpinnings of the Zune, probably just the core Kernel and basic system, was pulled out and used as the basis for Windows Phone 7 while the Zune team just stared adding phone features to their already up and running platform. In the end, the Zune phone won the race with finished hardware and all. But, Windows Phone 7 probably seemed more impressive to the higher ups and so they made an odd marketing decision: Put it in front of us first. You see, I'm not sure people would have reacted to Kin (the Zune phone really) as positively as Microsoft would have wanted if people thought this was the answer to the question, "What's going to replace Windows Mobile 6.5?" So, I think Microsoft, in an attempt to save it's self having to answer some embarrassing questions, made the right decision to name the successor to windows mobile first before showing use it's Kin card. The question still remains though, why does Kin even exist if Windows Phone 7 is ultimately to be the platform of choice? Well, my guess is that Kin was done and ready to go some time late last year. They had already entered into a partnership with Sharp for the hardware and Verizon for the network support so Project Pink was a done deal. So at that point it just becomes a simple need for a return on their investment. I wouldn't be surprised if we never see a Kin 3 or 4 unless Sharp somehow gets ahold of the development and carries on on their own.
Microsoft has a long history of setting departments to compete between each other, and Kin is, in part, an extension of that. As others have pointed out, long before there was even an idea behind WinPho 7, MS had acquired the Danger platform to expand their company's embrace of 'cloud' services (Azure, sharepoint, office online, etc). This is the next step in their expansion and testing of device specific cloud services. I wouldn't be surprised that the base code of the Win Pho 7 is more precisely the backend of the Kin development effort.