In what may be one of the biggest blunders in mobile phone history, Microsoft has decided to immediately halt production on its line of Kin phones after it showed extremely disappointing sales.
The Kin line launched just 48 days ago and was sort of a bridge between Microsoft’s old mobile phone platform and the upcoming Windows Phone 7 operating system.
However, despite a very large marketing budget and a lot of effort in research and development, sales were really poor.
Verizon, the exclusive carrier of the Kin, slashes prices of the handsets in very short time after their initial release. One analyst, Forrester Research’s Charles Golvin, told the New York Times, “It’s an absolute failure,” speaking about the Kin.
Of course, it launched at an unfortunate time, muddled with the releases of such high-profile devices as the HTC Evo 4G, the iPhone 4, and as pre-orders opened up for the next generation of Droid phones.
Microsoft is still hopeful for the round of Windows Phone 7 devices, though. It said today that member of the Kin team would be shuffled over to Windows Phone 7.
The European Kin launch has been canceled, and Microsoft will now actively work with Verizon to clear out any remaining US inventory. Kin ads will immediately disappear from the TV and Internet as Microsoft attempts to just shovel the entire endeavor under the rug.
