I can not believe how much hatred the Kin has been getting lately. Almost all of the criticism seems to go something like this: “I mean, the Kin isn’t really targeted to me, but I really don’t think ANYONE is going to want this.”
The Kin doesn’t represent a return to dumbphones, it’s not for stupid teens who don’t know any better, it’s not ignorant, out of touch, or even a mistake by Microsoft. It’s an experiment. It’s a technical feat. It’s catering to a market of oversharers, obsessive life documenters, and people tapped into the social stream.
“It doesn’t have a calendar! It doesn’t have Instant Messaging! ALL TEENS WANT TO INSTANT MESSAGE WITH THEIR PHONE!” Fact: I don’t use a calendar. I don’t instant message on my phone. Granted, I’m in my early 20′s, but neither does my little brother, and he’s in his teens. We’re both tech-savvy, he has an iPhone and I have a Blackberry. Neither of us instant message. I rarely use BBM myself, as my contact list is only 20-something people. We send thousands of texts a month though, because it’s convenient, and easier to use than IM. (I already have your phone number, why would I sign up for a screen name to accomplish the same thing a different way?)
So what if it doesn’t have an app marketplace? I have the Blackberry Marketplace, and it sucks. It’s absolutely terrible. The only applications I have running on my phone are Twitter, Tumblr, Foursquare, Facebook, and Youmail. I don’t have any Jedi lightsabers, iGun, tap-tap-revenge, or any number of silly applications that the iPhone or Android offer. And I don’t really care. (Although when I see someone using an app with augmented reality I do feel a tinge of envy) Not everyone wants their phones to blend smoothies, rake their yards, and knit them sweaters.
Is everyone ignoring the whole Zune Pass lifestream thing? Microsoft says everything on your phone is going to be hosted in the cloud. Can we talk about that for a second, and how impressive that could potentially be? The idea is that you can take your Kin, with either its 5mp or 8mp camera, and document your life. (not that it’s worth documenting) All in one convenient place. Texts, photos, videos, everything. Who needs on-board storage? Who’s even offering anything similar to this? The interface looked slick too, and if it’s anything like the demos I’ll be impressed.
All of that aside, I don’t know if the Kin is actually going to be a good product. The design is quirky, but is it practical? The cloud storage seems cool, but how will the performance be? How much will it cost? What about data plans? There are a lot of unanswered questions, but I respect Microsoft for trying something new. That’s what they’re doing, they’re creating a “feature phone,” not a “dumbphone” like a lot of people are saying. Microsoft is treading a lot of untested waters, and I for one am I excited to see where this is all going.
With the announcement of WinPho 7, and now this, I’m really interested to see what else Redmond has up their sleeve. I’m starting to like Microsoft’s new groove. (Natal? Zune HD? What’s next?)
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