Microsoft Launches Social Networking Phones

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There may be a space in between modern smartphones like the iPhone or Google Nexus One and old fashioned phones that do little more than make phone calls. The T-Mobile Sidekick, for instance, is a feature-phone that lets you surf the web and chat, but which doesn’t support third party apps.

Now Microsoft is hoping to jump into feature phone space in a big way. The company introduced KIN today. KIN is a new cellphone platform with a heavy focus on social networking and sharing. The two handsets Microsoft is introducing will let you connect to Facebook, MySpace, Windows Live, Twitter, and other services to share photos, videos, messages, and other items.

Sounds like a smartphone, right? Read the rest of this entry »

6 thoughts on “Microsoft Launches Social Networking Phones”

  1. Where is GMail, GChat, Picasa, AIM, Y! Messanger, Flickr, Buzz, Foursquare, Gowalla, Latitude, Slacker, Pandora, Grooveshark, SlingPlayer, and YouTube support like every other platform in the world? Or did I forget that those services are not used by kids/teens/20somethings and are only enterprise level services/apps?

  2. @Ben

    Are seriously asking the inventors of VENDOR LOCK where their support of open services like GMail, Flickr, Buzz, Foursquare, Gowalla and YouTube are?

    Ask when you’ll be able to put a PS3 disc into an xbox and have it work, while you are at it.

  3. @Todd, I wouldn’t have expected any different out of Microsoft expect they told me “It’s Time To Share” ;)

  5. It’s all kinda crazy. MS should focus ALL of their efforts on Windows Phone 7. My buddy has two teenage daughters. And they’re iPhone/Blackberry users. I can’t imagine they’d want a hamstrung OS like this.

  6. Over at androidandme.com we call any new phone that pretends the iPhone and Android never launched “shame closet” phones.

    I’ll make some room in the shame closet for the Kin in the shame closet, and it can join the other form factor abominations that practice denailism; the Motorola backflip, Palm Pre/Pixi

    P.S. Just noticed the Kin has a dedicated emiticon button on its mangled keyboard.

    Ugh.

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