Official: Microsoft's Kins Are Back in Verizon
Oh dear, here we go again, but this time for less money and with cheaper data plans.
You might remember last week, when word got out that Verizon was bringing back the not very popular Kin One and Kin Two. Well, apparently those rumors were true, because here they are, albeit with slightly different names. Ladies and gentleman, I give you the Kin ONEm and the Kin TWOm.
When it comes to hardware, these two devices are pretty much the same. Where Verizon has changed things up is the pricing and the data plans. Before, the Kin One (pictured) and Kin Two were priced at $49.99 and $99.99 respectively. Now, Verizon is selling the former for $19.99 and the latter for $49.99. All pricing listed here is with a two-year contract. If you want it off-contract, expect to cough up $119.99 and $219.99 for the ONEm and TWOm respectively. Big Red also lowered the data plans, removing that $30 per month data charge and replacing it with three options for data: $1.99 per megabyte, $29.99 for 5GB, or $9.99 for 5MB.
Though lower prices are always welcome, we think the biggest problem with the Kin ONEm an Kin TWOm will be that Microsoft is now competing with itself in a market where Windows Phone 7 is already available. It's sure to generate confusion when people go looking at Windows Phone 7 devices and are faced with a Microsoft-brand handset that doesn't use WP7.
Verizon first launched the two Kin devices in May of this year. The network pulled the device about a month later.
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Microsoft should look up Einstein's definition of insanity.
Seems to me that they made X amount of Kin phones, but sold less than X Kins, so now they're just trying to liquidate them. But who knows, I'm probably wrong.
Microsoft should look up Einstein's definition of insanity.Seems to me that they made X amount of Kin phones, but sold less than X Kins, so now they're just trying to liquidate them. But who knows, I'm probably wrong.
That's what it looks like to me.
Microsoft should look up Einstein's definition of insanity.Seems to me that they made X amount of Kin phones, but sold less than X Kins, so now they're just trying to liquidate them. But who knows, I'm probably wrong.
Precisely. They're taking their piles of failed crap products, and trying to sell it again as something fresh and new. Microsoft fails at mobile devices. And they keep proving it time and time again.
kin phone looks like a gay phone ~ no offend XD
It is not the Kin's fault but Verizons for its stupid limited data plans vs price.
It is the Kin's fault. LOOK AT THE PHONE.
It's a product failure being brought back to life to fail again. Someone at Microsoft just doesn't get it.
what kind of lame plan options are:
, and the first two "plans" are what you would use up in a ten minutes of web browsing.
1mb for 1.99 =1 mb/$1
5mb for 9.99 =1 mb/$1
5gb for 29.99 =166 mb/$1
Not very good scaling
kin phone looks like a gay phone ~ no offend XD
If you aren't trying to offend anyone, your best bet is probably to avoid saying things that are offensive. Just a thought.
I suppose it was either this or destroy the entire inventory of phones. If they get them moving they go from complete failure to minor failure/major embarrassment. If it works somebody at each company will get huge kudos when their review rolls around because they will make the failure far less expensive.
I wonder if they could have made it look any gayer.
Totally gay.
what kind of lame plan options are:1mb for 1.99 =1 mb/$15mb for 9.99 =1 mb/$15gb for 29.99 =166 mb/$1Not very good scaling , and the first two "plans" are what you would use up in a ten minutes of web browsing.
There's a typo. The 9.99 plan should say 25MB. This is straight from Verizon's website.
Anyway, it's still not a good price for those plans (the big boys always cornhole you on data plans). The 9.99 plan *should* give you a couple hundred megs, and the 29.99 plan should be unlimited - even if they have to throttle you a bit after 5GB. But, in theory you should be able to do almost everything you need to while on WiFi, and just get the 25MB plan for the occasional email. Again, it should still be 200+ megs for that 9.99 plan!
I'm not sure I like the style, but if you want to prove you're an idiot you've done a good job with the "totally gay" comments.
The scaling of those data prices are just awful.
$220 for the Kin TWOm off contract actually seems pretty cheap to me.
The only thing I'm left wondering is if we'll be able to hack Android to Windows Phone 7 onto it.
$30 for a 5GB/month plan, I'd jmup all over that. Not quite as cheap here...
The Kon Onem may be ugly as hell, but it has decent hardware (though a low resolution screen) for only $120 off contract.
I actually dare to say these are phones that I'm considering (as my plans for a $800 phone are long gone).
The Kin One looks more like a PDA than a phone though.
Its rubbish.
Even if you offer free rubbish, nobody wants it.
As said the data is stupidly expensive. Here in AUS, for $69/month i get...
-iPhone 4 32Gb
-Unlimited free sms/mms to any network
-Unlimited free calls to same and sister network
-2Gb data (no extra charge for tethering)
-$650 for everything else
even rebirth will not make difference, still sucks, just launched because something has to be done, is it something microsoft aims for apple or just passing time (i think the hardware is of microsoft)
less hope of survival, good luck
*Facepalm*
I really... really... hope they're just trying to get rid of these phones rather than trying to find a market them... again.
Microsoft should look up Einstein's definition of insanity.
Lol you read my mind!
If you want a phone to make phone calls and keep up on Facebook, these are not a bad option. However if you are not a 14 year old, there are better options for you.
kin phone looks like a gay phone ~ no offend XD
The edges are nicely rounded so they can "hold it right" (referencing the Steve jobs/iPhone4 x-ray joke).
The gayest phone ever
Sure are a lot of closet homosexuals in here deliberately lashing out to try and convince people otherwise.
What gave you guys away? Not too many truly heterosexual people really give a crap about gay/not-gay so they don't make it a point to mention.
Let's see... a couple of things to point out...
You get a phone with an 8MP camera, wifi, and 8GB of built in memory for $49.99... and now there isn't a requirement for a monthly data plan.
Yeah, that SCREAMS ripoff to me.
This is what they should have done to begin with. I, personally, don't want a Kin Twom (I love my android), but for a feature phone, this is not bad. Yeah, they seem to be just selling off back-stock, but that is a good thing for the holidays, IMO. A lot of kids will get a killer specced phone from Santa this year.
Incidentally, the 29.99 plan is still unlimited and uncapped. I re-checked and re-verified this with Verizon both online and on the phone.
The Kin = first Zombie phone ever.