News · 13 May 2010 · MTW Editorial Team
Microsoft is in small PR nightmare with the launch of the two KIN handsets this month. On one hand they are heavily promoting Windows Phone 7 as their new mobile platform while at the same time launching to feature phones that have in my opinion no place in Microsoft’s upcoming mobile catalog (once WP7 is out). Since the very beginning the company has said that KIN’s features will, in the future, found there way into Windows Phone 7 and it seems that things may be (hopefully) accelerating a tiny bit now that people are openly criticizing the KIN’s pricing plan and wondering if project will ever be a success. When asked about the possibility of seeing downloadable applications on the KIN ONE and KIN TWO, Microsoft’s Greg Sullivan had this to say:
Neither the Kin One nor the Kin Two has the ability to download applications and games — taking it out of the realm of most smartphones — but Microsoft said it plans to allow app downloads in a future version as services are merged with upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices.
“Over the longer term, we’ll be merging [Kin and Windows Phone 7] platforms and having downloadable apps,” said Greg Sullivan, senior product manager in Microsoft’s mobile communications unit.
I don’t wish failure for the KIN phones but the sooner some of the features (KIN Studio, KIN SPOT) find their way into Windows Phone 7, the better. Microsoft could still sell KIN handsets in the future but only if the price plan is lower than what is currently offered.
Source: Computerworld
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