Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Mobile Business Broke

Out of luck



Summary: Rumours suggest that only 500 units of "KIN" were sold and Microsoft's mobile business diverges in too many directions, none of which is successful

"KIN" is doing extremely poorly [1, 2, 3, 4] and so does Microsoft's mobile business in general. One of Nokia's new phones is being insulted by a comparison to "KIN" [1, 2], which is simply a non-starter because it's behind the competition in almost every way.

A few years ago it was reported that Vista had sold just hundreds of copies in the whole of China (where people download it illegally). Microsoft refused ("declined" is the nicer word) to comment on it, which probably means the real numbers were too embarrassing to disclose. Here is a new report titled "Microsoft KIN sales woes – Rumor hints at just 500 sold"

The latest rumblings in the rumor mill have Microsoft selling just 500 KIN phones (KIN 1 and KIN 2) since it’s launch earlier this year. No, we’re not joking, and that’s not a typo – although if this rumor is true, we’re sure Microsoft will be wishing the sales figures were at least lacking an extra “zero.”


Microsoft has not yet commented to refute this. If Microsoft does not refute it, then it's probably true. Here is a massive number of other reports on the subject:



That's just 8 among more. Unless Microsoft comes up with a statement, that ought to be a massive embarrassment that also reflects badly on "Kinect" [1, 2] (which has a similar name, probably not by coincidence). When it comes to "KIN", people who bought the thing complain in the forums that it's buggy at so many levels. We gave several examples. It's yet another sign of a dying company, at least in some areas which it might be forced to quit (despite them being the future of industry).

Since Microsoft is unable to compete using products, it will probably try to tax the competition using software patents (e.g. Microsoft 'Android tax' at Samsung, LG, and HTC). Who would even want to stock "KIN" and put it on shelves in a store, especially after Microsoft destroyed T-Mobile's reputation?

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is trying to verify claims about the "KIN" sales number:

There’s an unsubstantiated rumor going around that Microsoft has only sold 500 Kin handsets. I’m in search of someone who has actually bought one.


He also writes about Windows fragmentation, stating in his headline that "Microsoft's mobile ambitions suffers from fragmentation overload"

“Will Microsoft try to buy RIM by borrowing a lot more money?”Adrian, whose colleague calls this "Microsoft’s Mobile OS Maze", raises a point which we wrote about last week [1, 2, 3]. There is far too much fragmentation in Windows Mobile, which took too many unsuccessful new paths. Other sites complain about the confusion and misdirection Microsoft is causing [1, 2]. Just making more and more separate platforms is not a winning strategy [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Everyone can see that and Microsoft even talks about operating systems that do not exist [1, 2], at least not in the market. They have broken functionality for example. Will Microsoft try to buy RIM by borrowing a lot more money?

It is mostly the Seattle press which advertises Microsoft in mobile/embedded [1, 2] and to put it more realistically:

While there's no real way to accurately gauge the financial impact of Windows Mobile on the company, we can assume it's small.


It's very small. Microsoft's market share is under 10% here (and declining). No wonder the management in charge of this has left the company [1, 2, 3, 4]. Some sources said it got sacked (or pressured to leave).

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
 
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025