Microsoft Kin
It officially went on sale. Microsoft ended it just 48 days later.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
The Kin One and Kin Two phones, built around social sharing and a companion cloud service.
Kin had a launch, a carrier, retail pricing and real buyers. What made it extraordinary was the almost nonexistent distance between public arrival and corporate withdrawal.
Existence timeline
Microsoft’s social-phone project develops from its acquisition of Danger.
Microsoft presents two phones and the Kin Studio cloud experience.
Verizon begins selling Kin One and Kin Two.
Plans for a wider Vodafone rollout are abandoned.
Microsoft stops the independent Kin programme after 48 days.
The cloud service that defined the phones is switched off.
Why it ended
Weak sales and confused positioning led Microsoft to end the standalone Kin line and fold its team into Windows Phone.
Last confirmed trace
Physical phones, launch material, reviews and recordings of the short-lived Kin Studio service remain.
What it left behind
Kin became one of big tech’s shortest-lived consumer launches and a durable lesson in organisational and product positioning.
How we classified it
KIN phones entered ordinary US retail sale before Microsoft ended the product line and folded its team into Windows Phone.
Retail availability is the 100-point general-availability stage.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.