 Microsoft doesn't
do phones
By Theo Boshoff
Two new mobile phones, the Kin One and Kin Two, were launched yesterday, by Sharp and Microsoft.
We should have guessed it would not take long for Microsoft to start designing its own phones, judging by the restrictions it is placing on devices that sport the latest Windows Mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, to be rolled out later this year. The company is, however, adamant that these are not Microsoft phones.
The Kin One and Kin Two were designed by Microsoft and made by Sharp and will be sold and distributed by Sharp, according to Microsoft.
So, who would buy these phones? Well, the phones are targeted at the youth and will be competing in the low-end of the smartphone market. The look of both phones certainly suggests a more youth-orientated user, with lots of curves. The Kin One has more of an awkward-feeling, square form factor.
The phones might appeal to youngsters, as they focus heavily on instant messaging and social networking by bringing feeds from the likes of Twitter, Facebook and MySpace together on the
home screens.
Just a quick look at the phones also reveals that both sport a touchscreen, slide-out Qwerty keyboard and a camera. These attributes further add to the phones' messaging and social networking focus and youth appeal.
Both feature the Microsoft Zune digital player, like the Apple iPhone includes the iPod music player, and both feature an FM transmitter.
What is different and maybe a drawing point for many people is the fact that all the data on the phones, including messages, phonebook and even photographs are automatically backed up online. This can then be accessed via the Kin Studio application, in an effort by Microsoft to ensure data loss
never occurs.
This feature might be attractive, but it remains to be seen how the data transfer costs will be handled in this case and what data rates and packages service providers will come up with, as this has not yet been revealed. For the South African public, this should be the first point of consideration when thinking of getting either of the Kin phones, if they ever reach our shores.
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