04-13-2010, 04:04 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 431
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Janak, Microsoft isn't competing with itself with the Kin and other WP7 devices anymore than it competes against itself with various Windows versions (I know some people don't understand that either, but it really makes perfect sense.) The Kin is really a subset of the coming WP7 devices aimed at a specific set of users....those 15 to 30 and then people like me.
There appears to be confusion about what the Kin offers, but it does offer e-mail and texting. Microsoft has said they consider their implementation of text to be IM like (whatever that means) but that they are open to adding IM if users want it.
I really don't see the lack of downloadable apps feature as the big deal that others do. I can download apps on my Touch Diamond 2. I've downloaded exactly two- and one of those I later deleted. I know there are people who are forever downloading apps however. They won't want a Kin.
The one thing that I think MS may have missed was games, as portable games would seem to have the same target audience as the social network crowd. But MS did 50K hours of interviews with that audience and I didn't, so I'll cut them some slack on that point. I could also hazard a guess that with the Zune software already on the Kin, that adding games might have been seen as undercutting the potential market for WP7 devices.
I gather that neither Microsoft nor Verizon are planning to set the world on fire with the Kin. I think they just want a successful product that creates some mind share in the target audience for Windows Phones. I think they've hit on that with what I've seen of the two devices.
And as for the negative reaction to the announcement on some tech sites- it is similar to what I saw with Windows 7 and with Windows Phone 7. We already know how wrong that gang was about Windows 7 and I believe we will see they are equally wrong about WP7 and the Kin as well.
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