RIP Kin

Rodney Gedda

Rodney Gedda is the former deputy editor of CIO and former editor of Techworld.

The prophecy blog strikes again. A few months back I wrote about how the Kin may not have much of a future in the wake of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 intentions. Today Microsoft announced the end of Kin development. Microsoft will focus its future mobile efforts on Windows Phone 7, due out on phones later this year.

With the Windows Mobile install base being relentlessly attacked by the iPhone and Android-based handsets Microsoft needs to come to market with a very compelling product in Phone 7.

The less fragmentation at this stage the better – Just integrate the Kin features into Phone 7 and deploy them as required.

Even HP now has its own mobile operating system (webOS) following its acquisition of Palm. So the once strong partnership between the Microsoft and HP around Windows Mobile also looks uncertain.

Will Microsoft claw back its mobile market share? Windows Phone 7 has some mountain to climb when it becomes available later this year.