In an attempt to clear out stockpiles upon stockpiles of product, as well as salvaging whatever profit potential to be had, Verizon internal documentation has confirmed that the carrier plans to relaunch the Kin One and Kin Two as the Kin Onem and the Kin Twom this quarter.
The impetus for the relaunch may have also been inspired by the carrier’s recent data plan realignment, with the $15 data plan being an easier sell instead of a mandatory $30 unlimited plan as previously required during the device’s launch period when it was classified as a smart device.
With the Kin series now classed as a Feature Phone under Verizon’s new device classification system, this means that customers will not even have to attach a data plan for purchase, though it does raise the issue of the availability of its former selling points in The Loop and the Kin Studio as the devices did not feature a PC-based sync option during its initial launch and depended solely on the Kin Studio for contact sync and media upload. The former resembles the discontinued Sidekick series which was developed by the same team that developed the Kin.
Bet the OS is gone and replaced by standard brand OS
I seriously doubt the KIN OS will be replaced by Windows Phone 7. The “Standard OS” for KIN devices is Windows CE… and Microsoft will not ship those phones with WinCE.
What I suspect is that the KIN OS will be pared down, made to be even less data hungry (The Loop may get the axe, maybe not), and Zune Pass, etc will be done over-the-wire in all likelihood.
The result will be a feature phone built atop what bridged Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7, which is what KIN really was all along. You’ll be able to surf the web with Internet Explorer, launch the Mail client and check your email, etc… but it will be controlled or defaulted to not push so that the $15/150MB plan fits.
And really, it’s the standardizing of data plans on Verizon that brought KIN back. Had the $15/150MB plan not emerged, I doubt KIN would have come back. Microsoft has stockpiles of these phones that they need to unload. If they can revive KIN as a viable feature phone in the marketplace, that will be all the more saving grace that will help put Microsoft back in the game.