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:

• Rumor: Only 500 Kin phones have been sold?
• Rumour: Microsoft only sold 500 KIN phones?
• Rumor: Only 500 Microsoft Kins Sold? [How Bad Is The Microsoft Kin Sales Numbers? New Insider Rumor Pins Microsoft As Only Selling 500 Kins]
• Microsoft Kin One & Two Phones Sold To Date: 500?!
• Microsoft has only sold 500 Kin smartphones?
• Just 500 Microsoft Kin phones sold claims source
• RUMOR: Microsoft has only sold 500 ‘Kin’ phones
• Rumor: Microsoft may have sold just 500 Kin phones

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). ⬆