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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?

By | June 18, 2010, 2:27pm PDT

Summary: There’s an unsubstantiated rumor going around that Microsoft has only sold 500 Kin handsets. I’m in search of someone who has actually bought one.

There’s an unsubstantiated rumor going around that Microsoft has only sold 500 Kin handsets. I’m in search of someone who has actually bought one.

Poll

Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?

Personally, I don’t believe that this number is even close to reality, but that said, I’ve yet to meet someone who’s bought one, or who knows anyone who has one.

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Topics

Handset, Microsoft Corp., Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

Disclosure

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

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kin blows sidekick was cool
moffett.john@... 23rd Jun 2010
Way to buy and destroy more tech Softy. Danger was cool with a stellar platform and a stupid cult following. Softy equals overpay, orphan and deep six promising technology. Just abandon the phone space the war is over. Iphone/BB/Android/Nokia---------------------softy
View in thread
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I wonder...
zkiwi 18th Jun 2010
If those who voted "yes, I have one" are lying, or being "amusing" or something...
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Those that voted "yes", are MS employees, desperately trying to control the
DonnieBoy 18th Jun 2010
PR nightmare about to come.
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And those that voted NO are people like you
John Zern 18th Jun 2010
desperately trying to badmouth anything MS related, so I guess any PR nightmare would likely just lies from people like you. happy
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RE: Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?
DeusExMachina 21st Jun 2010
@John Zern
Are you SERIOUSLY trying to say that you think people who take the time to badmouth MS DID buy a Kin?!?
Once again, sense takes a back seat to dogma.
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RE: Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?
Loverock Davidson 18th Jun 2010
Are you going to use this information in another one of your MS hating articles?
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Well, he was being kind. 500 actually buying the Kin would be darn AMAZING.
DonnieBoy 18th Jun 2010
NT
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Does this mean that...
zkiwi 18th Jun 2010
You actually bought a Kin? Nah, you're hanging out for an iPhone 4 and an iPad.
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RE: Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?
DeusExMachina 21st Jun 2010
@zkiwi
Actually, I suspect he may have bought, say, 500 of them.
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The Kin* product line is going the way of MS Bob
OS Reload 18th Jun 2010
This Kin phone(y) is trailing the path for future releases of the Kin* product line. That Kinect thing (or whatever Kin* thing that comes before it) will be next to follow in Kin's footsteps.
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You know that when MS is so quiet that something is terribly wrong.
DonnieBoy 18th Jun 2010
If they had even sold a thousand, Balmer would be bragging.
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No, why would I?
Cylon Centurion 18th Jun 2010
I'm not 13 anymore.
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You don't have to be young, just REALLY stoooopid.
DonnieBoy 18th Jun 2010
NT
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Well if anyone would know stupid, that would be DummieBoy
John Zern 18th Jun 2010
er, DonnieBoy.

they really don't come much more stupide then him! happy
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Hey, I did NOT buy a Kin, or a Zune for that matter.
DonnieBoy 18th Jun 2010
NT.
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Zunes kick ass
Cylon Centurion 19th Jun 2010
@NStalnecker

I love my Zune!
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Zune kicks asss??? Is that why Zune does so well against iPod??
DonnieBoy 19th Jun 2010
NT
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Does it have to?
Cylon Centurion 19th Jun 2010
@NStalnecker

I didn't know it had to beat the iPod to be a winner.
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Are you sure you didn't mean ....
wackoae 19th Jun 2010
... "The Zune is the reason I get my ass kicked every day"??

That sounds more believable.
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I didn't know I got my ass kicked....?
Cylon Centurion 20th Jun 2010
@NStalnecker

In fact, I know a few others who have Zunes as well. What's your point?
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I'd take a dead Zune over an iAnything
ericesque 21st Jun 2010
@NStalnecker
iPod, iTouch, iPhone, iPad... a bricked Zune is superior to any of them!
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That is like asking "Are you freaking stupid?"
DonnieBoy 18th Jun 2010
NT.
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Hmm..
LouisXIV Updated - 18th Jun 2010
Seriously Adrian, are you really asking Zdnet users whether they've bought a kin for themselves?
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Yes, he is asking exactly that, and also if you know somebody that bought
DonnieBoy Updated - 18th Jun 2010
one. He is just trying to get an idea if the 500 number is real or not. What is you opinion? Has MS sold substantially more than the 500 figure?
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Or their kids.
Bruizer 19th Jun 2010
@LouisXIV

I would believe a number like 10,000 - 50,000. Still not a stellar number but not 500.
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Kin failed. Lets get some sales figures
gjafg 18th Jun 2010
It is obvious that Kin has failed.

Microsoft is so embarrassed it refuses to release the sales figures. But maybe Best Buy could enlighten us to how bad sales were.

Kin got massive promotion. Microsoft staged concerts. The teenagers came to the honeypot and attendance at the concerts was huge. Everyone enjoyed the free concerts, but nobody was interested in the Kin.
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Looks like they are going to be under pressure about sales figures starting
DonnieBoy 18th Jun 2010
NOW. It will be funny to watch them squirm.
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WHat's a Kin?
none none 18th Jun 2010
nt
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RE: Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?
thetyke 19th Jun 2010
What's a kin?
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Adrian, how low can you go?
transposeIT 19th Jun 2010
Dirt level, I guess...
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Welcome him.
OS Reload 19th Jun 2010
Then thank him for keeping you company.
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I did not buy an iPhone either.
Rick_K 19th Jun 2010
Nor did I buy an Android phone. But I would certainly would not buy a Kin, because I?m not a silly little girl. I also did not buy a fecal brown zune, cause I could squirt others with it. That just sounds silly, and a little strange;squirting your friends with a brown zune.
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Verizon killed it!
AboveAverageJoe 19th Jun 2010
The Kin was DOA when Verizon launched it tied to their Smart Phone data plan! As a Parent, there is no way I am paying that much money so my son can text and update Facebook.
That being said he will be getting an Android or Win7 phone for Christmas from whatever Carrier has the cheapest data plan.
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I think he's got a huge part of it
voyager529 19th Jun 2010
$5 a month for the data plan = either a parent can consider it or it's a week or two of allowance if the kid has to pay for it. $20-$30 = on par with iPhone & Droid in cost but not in trendiness and doesn't do web browsing as nicely = not competitive.

Also Adrian, you're asking the wrong crowd. I sincerely doubt anyone who regularly visits an IT site is going to have a phone targeted at teens that doesn't sync to an exchange server or have any number of features that most of us that have smartphones require.

Joey
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article refs unproduct
symbolset Updated - 20th Jun 2010
Time 16 06 2010 reporting BB dayorder doubleplusungood refs unproduct rewrite fullwise upsub antefiling.

By next week the Kin won't be a failed product: It will be an unproduct. It will have never happened. All the syndicated articles and fansites about it will come unlinked and point to 404 pages or parked search pages. All authoritative references to any similarity with Windows Phone 7 will disappear.

It's nice that this happens on the weekend with the messaging team on leave so I can warn y'all to archive references you want to keep for whatever reason.
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MS needs a Steve Jobs
rynning 19th Jun 2010
Steve Jobs would not have let the Kin ship at all. Someone at MS needed to have the guts to say "no." Balmer didn't. The company's mobile strategy is so incoherent it's embarrasing to even its remaining fans.
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I can't agree more
animageofmine1 Updated - 21st Jun 2010
@rynning : this is exactly what i think. Even Bill Gates would not have allowed it to ship. Atleast Bill Gates and Steve Jobs has/had vision. Ballmer, I don't know why is he a CEO. May be that's a biggest mistake from Bill Gates.
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Its a lost cause
Fletchguy 21st Jun 2010
Im a microsoft fan never would use apple as they make garbage. i love my zunes from day one to my HD and cant wait for a zune phone that said with facebook and twitter dying and really for those under 12 years old the kin is a collasal failure as its ugly, pointless, and lacks andy real use. Not sure how this one slipped by marketing a simple focus group should have answered the question would you buy this thing...answer no.Love ya microsoft but its a fail
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RE: Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?
Serton 21st Jun 2010
@Fletchguy Yura lostcuz ya don kno howta speell or put periods where theynotta be an its al one long senents an i don know whut ht eheck yur takling about so go to schol an learn how riet puleeze
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RE: Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?
DeusExMachina 21st Jun 2010
@Serton

THANK YOU!!!
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RE: Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?
Chip Moody 21st Jun 2010
So great - we know the ratio between votes. Where's the actual vote count so we know when (if) the "yes" category hits 500?
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MicroSoft superiority!
john_gillespie@... 21st Jun 2010
Unlike the problems Apple had with the first day iPhone 4 orders overloading the system, there were no such problems ordering the Kin.
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I don't think this survey would help
animageofmine1 21st Jun 2010
First, I don't think the number is 500. Even a simple phone without fancy features would have 500 users from anywhere. 500 phones would be sold pretty easily. Even if 1-2% of MS employees or their relatives buy, it crosses that number easily. Anyway, the point is, this survey would not help that much because the target crowd is 21 yrs for Kin and most of the readers here are above that age. Except some parent, who's got a kid buying Kin and a religious zdnet reader, nobody would be voting yes. And then you would say, no body bought Kin happy in your next article. Why waste time ? Don't you have something better to do or are you bored ?
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RE: Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?
Thomaspilgrim 21st Jun 2010
I love my Zune as well!
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RE: Have YOU bought a Microsoft Kin handset?
ajwitzel 21st Jun 2010
I looked at one, tried it out a bit, but decided it was designed for someone that hasn't had a real job yet. What's the point of a phone that is social network centric unless you're a kid?
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Their method of selling the Kin leaves much to be desired.
D. W. Bierbaum Updated - 22nd Jun 2010
All those commercials tout pretty much one, and only one, feature; the integrated social networking.

It's competition meanwhile, tout their phone's ability to do everything but wash your dishes, and there may even be an app for that! (Thinking of Lego Mindstorm + Smartphone app = possibilities)

MS just came late to the party, and hyped a really narrow feature set.

Edit: And who came up with that ridiculous name? Kin?!?!? It just doesn't roll off the tongue, like DROID or iPhone... I think the only more ill-thought name was the Nook E-Reader! You can't say that fast without embarrassing yourself! happy
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kin blows sidekick was cool
moffett.john@... 23rd Jun 2010
Way to buy and destroy more tech Softy. Danger was cool with a stellar platform and a stupid cult following. Softy equals overpay, orphan and deep six promising technology. Just abandon the phone space the war is over. Iphone/BB/Android/Nokia---------------------softy

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