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Rumors of Kin Studio's continued existence confirmed by death of Kin Studio
What can we say, Kin Studio? Of all the ideas introduced by Microsoft's ill-fated Kin, you certainly weren't the worst. In fact, we kind of hope to see you again some day.
Kin Studio closing January 31st, Verizon offers free phones to affected customers
Though the final nail in the Microsoft Kin coffin has yet to be tapped into place, the software that made the pair of ill-fated handsets strangely compelling will soon get the axe. Come January 31st, Kin Studio will be no more, effectively neutering existing Kin phones by removing them from the cloud. They'll still be able to make calls, send SMS, email, browse the web and even stream music via Zune Pass, but their formerly live homescreens will become lifeless, stripped of social networking functionality -- and will actually remain stuck on their very last status update, much like a broken clock. Their online repository of pictures, videos and contacts will cease to exist, though you can back them up to a personal computer if you act now. Thankfully, Verizon seems to understands that not all Kin customers will be happy with a zombiephone, and has taken a drastic measure to help them out -- through March 31st, 2011, Kin owners can trade it in for a free 3G phone of their choice. How kind. Find full Verizon FAQs on the transition at our more coverage links. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Steve Ballmer: Kin 'defocused activity from Windows Phone'
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been willing to admit some of the company's missteps in the past, and he's just done so again in addressing the now infamous Kin. Speaking with The Seattle Times, Ballmer said that the "No. 1 message from Kin is a message of focus," and that ultimately, "it just defocused activity from Windows Phone." Not exactly a huge surprise by any means, but it's still pretty notable to hear straight from the top, especially considering how much it cost Microsoft to learn that message. As for the rest of the interview, Ballmer didn't make a ton of news, but he did say that we'll be seeing additional Windows 7 tablet form factors starting this Christmas, and he revealed that he does in fact have a Facebook page, but he won't say which of the many Steve Ballmer pages is the real one. Hit up the source link below to read the whole thing.
Kin listed as at least $240 million writeoff in Microsoft earnings report
Here's a tidbit in today's Microsoft quarterly earnings that we previously overlooked: a $240 million cost of revenue "primarily... resulting from the discontinuation of the Kin phone, offset in part by decreased Xbox 360 console costs." In other words, the company took at least a quarter billion hit due to manufacturing, distribution, and support costs of the Kin (according to Microsoft's definition of "cost of revenue"). We don't know how much Xbox 360 offset, unfortunately, but we can add this figure to the $500 million Danger acquisition and the full marketing cost for the product (which we also don't know, but anecdotally, it was on par with other major campaigns) to reach... well, at least $800 million in regret for the folks in Redmond.
Microsoft's Kin saves a Roots show: a touching recollection by Questlove
The Kin may be dead and buried, but you can bet that the legacy of Microsoft's biggest failure in the phone market will live long in the minds of technophiles. What you probably wouldn't bet, however, is how it'll also live long in the mind of famed Roots drummer Questlove. You heard right -- the same beat maker that was caught FaceTiming with our own Josh Topolsky during a recent sit-down on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has a special place in his heart for the fallen phone series, and he's taken the time to pen a memoir detailing the reasons why. Undoubtedly an avid visitor of the (temporarily down) Kin R.I.P. web memorial, Questlove was recently held up behind a team of brats at the airport. As the story goes, even arriving 75 minutes early to his flight wasn't enough to clear through on a flight to Canada, leaving him in quite the pickle. If he didn't hop on this bird, his band mates would be struggling to please fans sans a drummer. As is so often the case these days, Quest ran into a particularly perturbed airline agent who wasn't about to bend in order to get him onboard; rather than name-dropping himself, he simply agreed to have his photo taken with a smattering of fans who just happened to waltz by during his pleading. Suddenly, the light popped on in the mind of the agent: "OMG! You are the guy in the Kin commercial... I see that commercial all the time!" Needless to say, Quest's ego took a serious hit, but he did manage to catch his flight and make the show in the Great White North. He told his manager that it was the "Kin commercial he almost passed on" that got him to the show, and closed with a simple remark: "R.I.P. Kin." Hit those source links for the full skinny -- it's a compelling read, we assure you. Oh, and that aforesaid ad is embedded just past the break.
Switched On: Kin's seven deadly sins
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. There may have been a lot of behind-the-scenes machinations at Microsoft and Verizon that resulted in the discontinuation of the Kin One and the Kin Two, but there were also many marketplace miscues that resulted in the demise of the handsets. Here, then, were Kin's seven deadly sins: Lust. With the Kin handsets, Microsoft was too eager to get its hands into the pockets of young social networkers for whom the smartphone market had proven elusive. The key paradox of this was that the Kin data plan was the same for that of other smartphones at Verizon, and that continued to shut out those who aspired to mobile digital sharing nirvana. Gluttony. If Microsoft was angling to get Verizon to offer a sweetheart deal for Kin data, it certainly didn't help its cause with the automatic backup of rich media to the Kin Studio website. If there was one aspect to the Kin handsets operation that may pave the way toward future success, it was the Silverlight-based web interface to all the media that was captured with the device. This also allowed Microsoft and Sharp to minimize the amount of on-device storage. However, constantly backing up high-resolution photos and even standard-definition videos to the cloud required a lot of bandwidth, making it difficult for Verizon to justify a "light" data usage plan for Kin users.
Life and death of Microsoft Kin: the inside story
Since our piece on Wednesday, we've had more trusted sources step forward to fill in some blanks and clarify the story behind the amazingly swift fall from grace that Microsoft's Kin phones have experienced since their launch just a few weeks ago. It's a fascinating tale, and we wanted to share everything we've learned.
Engadget Podcast 203 - 07.02.2010
Robots, death, Epic Fascination, and tropicalia: genre-surfing tokenism dominates the Engadget Podcast this week. Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul Miller Guest: Chris Ziegler Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: Castor - Rude Boy Hear the podcast 00:02:58 - Motorola Droid X review 00:04:40 - Introducing review scorecards! 00:18:48 - Droid X ad pokes fun at iPhone 4 antenna troubles 00:26:15 - Samsung's American Galaxy S phones pose for family portrait 00:26:48 - Samsung Vibrant is official on T-Mobile, coming July 21 for $200 00:26:53 - Verizon ropes in Samsung Fascinate, US Cellular gets a Galaxy S too 00:26:55 - Samsung T-Mobile Vibrant and Verizon Fascinate preview 00:27:00 - Samsung's Epic 4G for Sprint seems to live up to its name 00:30:10 - Samsung Epic 4G preview 00:42:41 - Microsoft says Kin software update is scheduled for mid-summer 00:42:45 - Kin One drops to $29, Two drops to $49, data plans remain silly expensive 00:42:50 - Microsoft Kin is dead 00:42:55 - T-Mobile kills off current Sidekicks, Kin says 'welcome to the club' 00:47:00 - What killed the Kin? 01:11:05 - Hulu Plus announced with support for iPad, iPhone, PS3, Xbox Live, and more (update) 01:15:15 - Hands-on with Hulu Plus via Samsung HDTV, iPhone and iPad 01:15:45 - Hulu Plus preview arrives in iTunes App Store, Flash be damned 01:16:00 - Hulu CEO: we're 'complementary' to cable 01:16:23 - HP / Palm buyout officially complete -- get ready for webOS printers 01:19:35 - MeeGo for handsets makes its first appearance Subscribe to the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune Marketplace Download the podcast LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast 1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com. Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget
What killed the Kin?
While the news today that Microsoft has killed its troubled Kin line didn't come as the craziest of surprises, it's definitely left a lot of lingering questions about just what happened. Now we may have a little insight into what went wrong -- and what might be in store down the road -- thanks to a reliable source of ours who's shared some news on Redmond's inner turmoil. Apparently, the troubles started long before the swirling Pink phone rumors (and way before the name Kin was ringing in our ears). According to our source, the birth of these devices began with a decision at Microsoft to create a platform agnostic, cloud-centric featurephone. A featurephone that could be had at a relatively low cost, and sold to a burgeoning market of teens and young adults who had little need for a BlackBerry-level device (or pricing). The first step in the project was acquiring Danger to leverage the work it had done with the Sidekick platform, and aligning with Verizon as a launch partner who could offer attractive pricing plans for the devices to a big pool... and here's where the trouble begins.
Screen Grabs: Pretty Little Liars is TV's newest home to egregious product placement (video)
Scene: Impossibly mature high school "girls" mingling in front of a locker. Action! Bitter Barbie: "What are you doing? Is that a new phone?" Bland Barbie: "Yeah, I'm checking my Kin. I'll just write on Hannah's wall from here." End scene. Yes, ABC's new Pretty Little Liars show is the future of American television, where entertainment morphs into infotainment and bakes the minds of an entire generation into a lovely pie of corporate servitude. We blame TiVo. Oh, and just because Palm quit making creepy commercials doesn't mean that they've given up on promoting its Pre to women. Looks like Roger McNamee was right about that backside mirror's appeal. See what we mean in the PLL episode 3 embeds posted after the break. [Thanks, Dave]
Kin One drops to $29, Two drops to $49, data plans remain silly expensive
Best Buy's already taken to offering Microsoft's Kin One for free and the Two for $49 on sale, but it looks like Verizon's officially lowering the price tag on its socialphones: the Kin One will henceforth be $29 while the Two drops to $49 for good. The ever-reliable Ina Fried at CNET says the move is a direct response to lagging sales; workers at one Verizon store told her that Kin devices are being outsold by the Palm Pre. (Ouch -- for both the Kin and the Pre.) Unfortunately, both devices will still require a $29/month or higher data plan, making their total cost of ownership about the same as Verizon's other, far more capable smartphones in the Droid line. Until Verizon wises up and drops the Kin's data pricing to "insanely cheap" we can't see sales ever taking off, especially since Windows Phone 7 is destined to utterly overshadow the Kin when it launches later this year. We'll see -- maybe that summer software update will blow our inner tweens away.
Microsoft says Kin software update is scheduled for mid-summer
We'd already heard some talk that Microsoft's Kin One and Kin Two phones might be in store for an update, and it looks like the phones will indeed be getting one sooner rather than later. While it remains to be seen if it will include those rumored IM improvements, a Kin support moderator has confirmed on the Microsoft Answers forum that an update is scheduled for "mid-summer," and that it will address "many" of the concerns laid out in the post that prompted the response. That included complaints about battery issues, a suggestion for improvements to the Twitter client (including replies and re-tweets), and a plea for YouTube support. The seemingly in-the-know Conflipper also backs up the inclusion of those Twitter updates, and says the Facebook app will also be updated to let folks view more than three pictures.
Best Buy now offering Kin One free, Kin Two for $50 on contract
For all its faults, the prime reason we panned Microsoft's Kin was price. Why buy a Kin when you could get a more capable iPhone, Palm Pre or Android device for the same price? This week, it seems someone at Best Buy HQ has seen the light. As of today, the brick-and-mortar electronics superstore has knocked $50 off the price of both handsets, making the Kin One free and the Kin Two cost only $50 on a two-year contract, with no mail-in rebates or other nonsense required. Now, if only Verizon would do something about that $30 monthly data plan, your teen might finally have a vaguely compelling reason to pick one up. [Thanks, Sean T.]
Microsoft Kin Two gets torn apart, reveals Sony image sensor
Sure, we already know most of the Kin Two's main specs, but there's nothing like a proper teardown to find out exactly what makes something tick, and the folks from Chipworks have now kindly ripped one apart so you don't have to. Among the highlights are the expected NVIDIA Tegra APX2600 processor, a slew of chips and memory from the likes of Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, Hynix, and Samsung and, perhaps most notably, an image sensor from none other than Sony. That sensor, the IMX046, is one of the smallest in its class with a pixel size of just 1.4 microns and, according to Chipworks, something of a surprise -- they were expecting a sensor from OmniVision. Hit up the links below for the Chipworks' complete blow-by-blow account, as well as some further analysis from the folks at iFixit -- and, no, there isn't a teardown of the Kin One just yet.
Kin Media Sync for Mac syncs Kin media with Mac
Sync music, sync photos, sync too much money into a mediocre phone. Now that we've gotten the amateur comedy hour out of the way, it's time to bring you the news that Kins and Macs will henceforth play very nicely together thanks to the just released Media Sync software from Mark/Space. Chosen by Microsoft as the exclusive provider of Mac syncing capabilities for Kin, the company is offering iTunes and iPhoto integration, whereby you'll able to transfer playlists and image albums both to and from your Kin device, as well as a neat transcoding feature to make videos playable on it. The software's free and can be found at the source link below, while the press announcement awaits after the break.
Microsoft Kin One and Two review
Make no mistake: the Kin One and Two are coming into the world as the black sheep of the phone industry, and Microsoft would have it no other way. Straddling the fence somewhere between a dedicated smartphone and high-spec featurephone, they've been tricky to understand since the day they were first leaked (even Microsoft seemed unsure of what the devices meant until very recently). Billed as a Gen-Y (the "upload generation") social networking tool -- and sold in advertisements as the gateway to the time of your young, freewheeling life -- the Kin phones have admittedly been something of head-scratcher to those of us in the gadget world. Built atop a core similar (but not identical) to the Windows Phone 7 devices coming later this year, manufactured by Sharp, and tied into partnerships with Verizon and Vodafone, the phones dangerously preempt Microsoft's reemergence into the smartphone market. Hell, they're even called Windows Phones. But the One and Two aren't like any Windows Phones you've ever seen. With stripped-down interfaces, deep social networking integration, and a focus on very particular type of user, Microsoft is aiming for something altogether different with Kin. So do these devices deliver on that unique, social experience that Redmond has been selling, or does this experiment fall flat? We've taken both handsets for a spin, and we've got all the answers in our full review... so read on to find out! %Gallery-92309%
The Engadget Show - 008: Dr. Dennis Hong, Ryan Block, Rick Karr, ATI Eyefinity, and more!
Greetings humans! The Engadget Show is back in a big way with this latest episode! Josh sits down with the brilliant roboticist Dr. Dennis Hong to chat about his supremely cool yet surprisingly terrifying 'bots, and then take a look at a few models which the professor brought along with him. Correspondent Rick Karr is back to give us the skinny on why the songwriting industry would like net neutrality to be a little less neutral, and Engadget editor emeritus and gdgt founder Ryan Block joins Josh, Paul, and Ross Miller on the roundtable to delve deep into all things newsworthy in tech. We also got to play with the ATI Eyefinity, one of the craziest gaming rigs you'll ever see... and then give it away to one lucky audience member! All that, and music from Neil Voss and visuals from NO CARRIER. Okay that's enough reading... time to watch! Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Paul Miller, Ross Miller Special guests: Dr. Dennis Hong, Rick Karr, Ryan Block Produced and Directed by: Chad Mumm Executive Producer: Joshua Fruhlinger Edited by: Michael Slavens Music by: Neil Voss Visuals by: NO CARRIER Opening titles by: Julien Nantiec Download the Show: The Engadget Show - 008 (HD) / The Engadget Show - 008 (iPod / iPhone / Zune formatted) Subscribe to the Show: [iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V). [Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V). [RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically. %Gallery-91698%
Microsoft Kin specs update: 600MHz processors, ambient sensors
Surfing Facebook for Kin info? That's so last year. The cool kids are members of the "upload generation" -- meaning they wait at gdgt for Microsoft employees to upload the specs. This week, social marketing director John Starkweather did just that, and now we know that both Kin One and Kin Two will sport a 600MHz processor and EV-DO Rev. A when they come to market in May, as well as light and proximity sensors. Bluetooth remote and headset profiles are to be had alongside Microsoft Exchange, and there's support for H.264, MPEG-4 and WMV video files. Last and assuredly least, the phones aren't technically Verizon-exclusive in the US; the last remaining customers of Alltel will also get their chance to show off tragic, angst-filled lives.
Microsoft Germany's Facebook page solidifies Kin specs
Nothing here we didn't already know, but it's nice to have some final, official confirmation: Microsoft Germany's just posted the specs for the Kin One and Kin Two on its Facebook page, and they line right up with that original, Google cached leak. As originally foretold, the Kin One will sport a 2.6-inch capacitive TFT LCD screen at 320 x 240 resolution, a 5 megapixel CMOS camera, 4GB of flash memory and a 1240 mAh battery, while the Kin Two ups its game with a 3.4-inch 480 x 320 screen, an 8 megapixel CMOS HDR shooter by Omnivision with a LumiLED flash, 8GB of solid state memory and 1390 mAh of juice. Both get 256MB of DDR, Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11 b/g WiFi, GPS, FM radio and an accelerometer; neither will own up to the Tegra they hide inside their svelte plastic frames. Not a fan of specs? Find out what Kin's really all about in our full guide.
Microsoft Kin: everything you ever wanted to know
For as long as Windows Mobile 6.x overstayed its welcome, Microsoft seems to be doing what it can to launch a full-out assault on the mobile battlefield -- first with Windows Phone 7, and now less than a month later with Kin. As we were reminded ad nauseam at the unveiling, the pair of devices -- dubbed Kin One and Kin Two -- aren't for the tech enthusiasts in the crowd, but rather for a younger audience Microsoft is calling "generation upload." That's apparently a group whose life is focused around capturing memories and updating Facebook, without any care or concern whatsoever for apps. Will Microsoft's gamble for control of the feature phone market prove successful? That remains to be seen, but for everything we know so far, read on!%Gallery-90313%
