New mobile phones tend to evolve towards becoming smarter and smarter, with better technology and a wider range of features. But earlier this week Microsoft who have teamed up with the Japanese manufacturer Sharp have decided to try a slightly different tactic. They have introduced two new mobile phones into the marketplace branded Kin One and Kin Two that have power but less features.
The angle of course is social media, because the Next Gens ( as described by Tamara Erickson in What Next Gen X ) or the younger generation who seem to be naturally socially driven. The target audience in mind is the 16-25 year olds, who spend most of their time, sharing photos, videos, location based content and other files with their friends.
The network carriers that will be introducing these phones to the marketplace later this year are Verizon Wireless in the US and Vodafone in Europe.
But how much they will cost is still a major question, since the target are clearly not the cash rich generation. Take a look at the review posted by Engadget, and you can see that the user interface is more Minority Report than Apple’s clean white approach. I admit I do like the way it looks, and have always been a fan of drag and drop features. Microsoft have also gone a step further by integrating the content simultaneously to a website, which they want users to regard as a bottomless pit for file storage, called Kin Studio, which also is a very nice touch.
Looking forward to seeing more about this, and already thinking that owning one phone is clearly not enough. Who said that this phone is for the younger generation needs to think again, because it’s really aimed at anyone who likes to create and share content.
Read the Engadget review at :
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/14/microsoft-kin-everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know/
Vy.ber ~ Virtually Cyber 