Microsoft Dumps Kin Mobile Range

Microsoft has cancelled the European launch of its Kin range of mobile phones, scheduled for this autumn, and will now integrate the team of Kin developers into its existing Windows 7 Series team. The decision comes less than three months after the company launched the devices in the US.

The decision to pull the plug on Kin was reportedly due to exceptionally bad sales figures. According to a BBC report, only 500 Kins have been sold in the US since the device launched on the Verizon network in May.

Microsoft backs away

While Microsoft has been building operating systems for mobile phones for some time, the Kin was its first foray into mobile hardware. Microsoft says it will now focus “exclusively” on the latest version of its mobile software, Windows Phone 7. This however is expected to be an uphill struggle given its past failures in mobile and the intense competition.

“We will continue to work with Verizon in the US to sell current Kin phones,” said the company in a statement.

Microsoft’s Kin phones were designed to appeal specifically to a younger demographic interested in social networking. The Kin One and Kin Two mobile handsets included hardware and applications meant to deliver a constant stream of updates and other social data to the user.

However, some commentators suggested the high monthly tariffs on Verizon’s network might prevent many members of the target demographic, such as teenagers, from obtaining them.

No iPad killer either

Earlier this year, Microsoft was also forced to pour cold water on rumours that it was planning to launch an iPad-killer, after development of its “Courier” tablet PC come to a standstill. Pictures of the dual-touchscreen device emerged on gadget blog Gizmodo in September 2009, but in April Frank Shaw, corporate vice president of corporate communications at Microsoft, published a blog stating that the Courier project had been canned.

“At any given time, across any of our business groups, there are new ideas being investigated, tested, and incubated. It’s in Microsoft’s DNA to continually develop and incubate new technologies to foster productivity and creativity,” Shaw wrote. “The ‘Courier’ project is an example of this type of effort and its technologies will be evaluated for use in future Microsoft offerings.”

The news follows a reshuffle of Microsoft’s mobile phone and video game division last month, along with the retirement of longtime Microsoft executive Robbie Bach. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer is now “looking at the [mobile] business, seeing what’s making money, what makes sense to do going forward,” said Matt Rosoff, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, speaking to Reuters.