We haven’t talked much if at all about the Microsoft Kin One or Kin Two, however, Best Buy has dropped their respective prices to $0 and $50 on two year contracts which make these devices a bit more interesting by way of being incredibly inexpensive. Not only do the Kins cost less than most smartphones or even feature phones, Best Buy’s pricing puts them into the range of standard mobile phones… You remember, the ones that you used to just make and receive phone calls on back in the day.
Microsoft must have spent a pretty penny on marketing of the Kin One and Kin Two because you see commercials for the devices during any network programing that has a target audience remotely close to the demographic MS is going after with the Kins. It will be interesting to see how well the Best Buy does with these devices. I’m guessing pretty well.
[Via Engadget]
Seriously though, why would anyone in their target audience want this? I don’t know. I think the cost of the plan leaves it with not much advantage after the initial outlay for the device. The Sidekick at least had it own cost structure. Barring the name, this are like the new Sidekicks in my mind.
Well, my fiancee would be the target audience. She wants a QWERTY keyboard phone for texting and some e-mail, but she’s not interested in much of what smartphones offer because she doesn’t use them.
She saw both KIN phones the other day and liked the fact that you could upload photos to Studio, edit them and display them for her pals and the rest of our family. None of the other phones — including the Tour 9630 (which she has as a work phone) and the Incredible (we stopped by Verizon for a quick minute)– gained her interest. If the Kin landed on Sprint by the time her upgrade comes up, she’s swoop it up. I’m trying to persuade her to hold on longer, then pick up my Curve when my upgrade comes a few months later. But BBM isn’t as appealing for her as it is for me.
This KIN may have a nice market for
Well, my fiancee would be the target audience. She wants a QWERTY keyboard phone for texting and some e-mail, but she’s not interested in much of what smartphones offer because she doesn’t use them.
She saw both KIN phones the other day and liked the fact that you could upload photos to Studio, edit them and display them for her pals and the rest of our family. None of the other phones — including the Tour 9630 (which she has as a work phone) and the Incredible (we stopped by Verizon for a quick minute)– gained her interest. If the Kin landed on Sprint by the time her upgrade comes up, she’s swoop it up. I’m trying to persuade her to hold on longer, then pick up my Curve when my upgrade comes a few months later. But BBM isn’t as appealing for her as it is for me.
This KIN may have a nice market niche.