Verizon Shoots Microsoft In The Foot Over Kin

Verizon Wireless and Microsoft revealed the final set of details regarding the new Kin One and Kin Two social networking phones. The phones are being targeted at younger users, but Verizon has effectively killed Kin's adoption by kinder with an expensive monthly smartphone plan.It's time for some math. The Kin One costs $50. The Kin Two costs $100. That's after rebates, with a new two-year agreement. At the cash register, you'll be shelling out $150 and $200, respectively. Both phones require a $40 monthly voice plan and a $30 monthly data plan (Verizon contends that Kin users will chomp through bandwidth by uploading content). That's $70 per month. The two-year cost of either Kin device will run $1,680 before taxes and fees, which typically add about $10 to monthly bills. On yeah, text messaging isn't included at all in these plans. What do teens like to do? Text their little thumbs off, that's what. Unlimited messaging plans run another $20, pushing the monthly total to $90. That's a lot of money for a teenager (or a teen's parents) to pay.

For comparison sake, the Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are available from Verizon Wireless each for $30 and require the same monthly fees. They offer much more advanced features. Same goes for the Motorola Droid, the HTC Droid Incredible, and about a dozen other smartphones -- including BlackBerries -- available from Verizon Wireless.

Here's another comparison for you. The iPhone 3G is available for $100, too. For the same $70, users get unlimited access to all that the iPhone offers.

Sprint and T-Mobile offer even better deals than Verizon Wireless and AT&T when it comes to total monthly out-of-pocket expense for smartphones (voice + text + web).

The real killer here is that the Kin One and Two are not smartphones. Not even remotely. They offer a neat user interface with some cool social networking integration on the home screen, but the list of things the Kin One and Two can't do far outweighs the number of things the Kin can. Here's a short list of features not available on Kin: calendar, voice notes, voice commands, maps or navigation, calculator, no YouTube, no weather, no games (no games on a phone for teens?!?), no apps. That's right, no applications of any kind whatsoever.

Long story short, the Kin One and Kin Two do less than most feature phones do, but Verizon Wireless still believes they deserve the price premium normally reserved for smartphones. Verizon Wireless has effectively killed any hope that Kin will gain foothold with its target demographic. Way to go, guys.