Microsoft Kin, Made by Sharp, To be Sold and Supported by Verizon in May

Microsoft, with two significant partners, has made itself hip again by unveiling two phones under the “Kin” brand. The line of products and services associated with the Kin brand is like Danger on steroids. The introductory event in San Francisco opened with a video depicting members of the target market of 18 to twenty-somethings who are totally addicted to socializing through Web- or cloud-based resources. The phone and its attendant services simplify the processes of monitoring, manipulating and contributing to multiple social “feeds” and closely linking real world activities with social networking and messaging platforms.

Sharp Electronics manufactures the two phones. Both conform to the “slider” style (meaning that a full QWERTY keyboard slides out from under the touchscreen to support messaging and info entry). Both have cameras that, in the words of Microsoft product manager Derek Snyder, are designed to provide high-quality images from “dimly lit clubs”. The salient difference is that the Kin 1 is much smaller than the Kin 2.

What’s striking is the level of effort Microsoft has put into integrating its operating system software and cloud-based assets into supporting the objectives of social networkers. Like Motorola’s Motoblur, the challenge was to aggregate information and images from multiple social feeds. In this case, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 operating system is much less fuzzy than Motoblur because it provides for an endless “loop” which can be scrolled through ad infinitum.

A single green “Kin Spot” persistently appears at the bottom of the screen. users can drag images, calendar items and the like into the spot for the purpose of sharing with others. An integration of Bing Maps with a cloud-based photo-sharing site called Kin Studio. Snyder shared a “Fun Fact” that Microsoft discovered: Only about a third of mobile phone owners have figured out how to extract photos from their devices. Not only does Kin Studio make it easy, the Kin automatically geotags and dates each photo so that it can be displayed on Bing Maps for later remembering and reminiscing.

Microsoft has worked closely with Verizon Wireless during design and testing of the Kin and related services. A Spokesperson for VZW said that the phones will be available for sale “in May” and that his company has the exclusive rights to sell the Kin. Outside the U.S. Vodafone has exclusive rights.

The media management and distribution assets associated with the Zune player are also integrated into Kin and the Kin infrastructure. Snyder demonstrated how the device supports search, discovery, sampling, display and purchase of music and video entertainment through a Zune app on the device. Thus, for the targeted market of socially active networkers, Kin is a formidable competitor to iPhones, Android-based devices and other general purpose smartphones.

Pictures and links to videos and the like can be seen here, on Microsoft’s Image Gallery.