As Microsoft launches its “Project Pink” social media phones today, one obvious question comes to mind: What is Microsoft doing in mobile, exactly? The pink phones — now known as Kin One and Kin Two — are built from the remnants of the Danger Sidekick technology Microsoft acquired. They are based heavily in the social media world, with apps on the home screen pulling in contacts from Twitter, Facebook and other social networks as well as enabling users to very easily share content created or received on the device with others.
Engadget has some of the highlights from today’s product launch:
The devices are being marketed as Windows Phones, and while they’re ultimately based on most of the same underpinnings of Windows Phone 7, it’s a distinctly and totally different experience — the entire user interface is custom to Kin with a heavy social media slant, a custom browser (we’re told it’s based on the Zune’s browser), and surprisingly, zero support for third-party apps. The displays are capacitive with support for multitouch (yes, you can pinch and zoom in the browser), but there’s no support for in-browser Flash or Silverlight.
Connected Planet’s take,
Rich Karpinski:
Sounding like something straight out of Dr. Suess, Microsoft’s new Kin One and Kin Two phones are actually fairly compelling, well-thought-out devices. The problem is they sit at the center — or maybe a bit off to the side — of a Microsoft mobile product and online ecosystem in dire need of some big picture direction. Most important to note is that the bulk of Microsoft’s revenues still come from its core products: Windows, Office and enterprise products like Exchange. On the consumer side, the story is much murkier and frankly a bit of a mess:
- On the Windows Mobile front, its goose would have been totally cooked if not for some creative user interface work by partner HTC, which put a glossy face on the current version of Windows Mobile until Microsoft’s own Windows Mobile 7 is ready later this year.
- Its big iTunes/iPod competitor in the Zune remains an excellent device, and the Zune Pass music subscription offering is well integrated with it. But where are the apps for the Zune, and where is the Zune app for playback on different devices?
- Xbox remains a huge bright spot for the company and in some ways the lynchpin of all its hopes (for better or worse. Whose idea was it to require users to acquire Xbox points to buy music on the Zune?)
- On the Web, search engine Bing remains a slick, albeit market share–lagging, Google competitor.
Can Microsoft bring all of these strands together? For better or worse, Kin One and Kin Two may be a test case for a good portion of the strategy.
That’s our take on this. Let us know what you think in the comments section below: