Microsoft Kin

Microsoft Kin

The Kin Two, shown open
Manufacturer	Sharp
Introductory price	ONE: $50, ONEm: $0, TWO: $100, TWOm: $20 (with contract)
Operating system	KIN OS (based on Windows CE)
CPU	Freescale i. MX31L processor ARM Core nVidia Tegra APX 2600
Memory	256 MB DDR RAM
Storage	ONE: 4 GB, TWO: 8 GB, KIN Studio (unlimited)
Input	QWERTY keyboard, Capacitive multi-touch
Camera	ONE: 5 MP, TWO: 8 MP
Connectivity	EV-DO Rev, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1
Weight	ONE: 3.9 oz (110 g), TWO: 4.7 oz (130 g)

Kin was a short-lived mobile phone line from Microsoft designed for users of social networking. Microsoft described the phones' target demographic as men and women between ages 15 and 30. It was manufactured by Sharp Corporation and sold through Verizon Wireless.

Microsoft invested two years and about US$1 billion developing the Kin platform, beginning with their acquisition of Danger Incorporated. The Kin was based on Windows CE.

The Kin ONE and TWO went on the market in May 2010. Within two months, Verizon stopped selling the phones because of poor sales. Microsoft scrapped its planned European release, stopped promoting the devices, ceased production, and reassigned the Kin development team to other projects.

Microsoft updated its unsold Kin inventory with firmware that removed their social and web-based features, and in December 2010 offered these re-purposed units through Verizon stores as limited feature phones, the Kin ONEm and the TWOm. In January 2011, Microsoft shut down the Kin.com website, which controlled most of the earlier phones' features.

The Kin TWOm was discontinued in August 2011; unsold inventory could still be found for sale on deals sites as late as June 2013.

The Kin project was first known by the codename Project Pink, and began under direction of Microsoft executive J Allard. In order to gain a head start, Microsoft acquired Danger Incorporated, which built the Danger Hiptop/T-Mobile Sidekick, in 2008 for a purchase price rumored to be around US$500 million. In September 2009, a ZDNet source reported that Project Pink would bring an entirely new software stack and services. Some reports predicted that the new mobile phone platform would be based on the Zune media device. The project was managed by Roz Ho, who coined the project name, "Pink", her favorite color. Engineers and project managers used the Twitter hash tag "#TMDP" to communicate in code with one another—the acronym expands to "Truly, Madly, Deeply (Pink)" for Roz Ho's favorite movie and the project name. Engineers were told they should feel passion for the project, "Truly, Madly, Deeply". When milestones were reached or there was a successful test, Roz Ho would cheer the team on by exclaiming "Truly, Madly, Deeply" in meetings or emails.