Microsoft’s Smartphones Failure

The company isn't selling any of its Kin phones because it isn't considering their customers' needs.

Earlier this year, Microsoft launched two semi-smartphones: the Kin 1 and Kin 2. Apparently, less than 10,000 of them have been sold (as reported by a series of online sources). Needless to say, this was not the market response Microsoft was hoping for and is easily cited as another disappointment for the company.

Today’s smartphone user is affluent, knowledgeable, and savvy. For Microsoft to create a meaningful connection with the average consumer, whether it is a current smartphone user or someone looking to purchase their first device, the company needs to give them an answer to a simple question: “What’s in it for me?” Sounds easy enough, right? Well, yes and no.

In a highly contested mobile world where there’s an app for just about everything, users unquestionably expect their device to go beyond voice, texting, email, and browsing. Microsoft’s Kin pushes only slightly beyond the basics with Twitter and Facebook integration. After that, the innovation runs dry.

Most strikingly absent from the Kin experience is that the phones do not support apps. The beauty of a smartphone is that it is both a “time filler” and “time killer.” What type of apps allow for this? Ones for entertainment, news, games, and sports, amongst a myriad of additional categories (none of which the Kin has).

Microsoft is now beginning to understand (by watching Google’s success with their Android phones) that you simply cannot win consumer mind share and market share (both equally important in a smartphone market that is growing 20-30 per cent year over year) without a compelling platform or operating system that enables third-party developers to create meaningful value added services and products. The direction Microsoft is headed with the Windows Phone is promising, with the introduction of Windows Mobile 7 as the operating system.

I’m just as anxious as you to see how the consumer value proposition for the Windows Phone holds up in an increasingly proliferated market place.