The short-lived Microsoft Kin, which reportedly cost Microsoft almost $1 billion to create and prepare for launch, was discontinued on June 30, just over a month after its May 13 in-store release date. The reason: spectacularly bad sales (some sources say less than 10,000 units). But as of November 18, the phone is strangely and quietly back on the market, albeit with a desperate price-drop: the Kin ONEm is $50, while the TWOm is a steal at $20.
The Kin, which was lazily marketed toward social media-savvy twentysomethings (and caused some controversy for an early ad in which a guy used it to take a photo under his shirt, which he sent to a girl), has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and touts high connectivity to Facebook, Twitter, email, etc. But the target audience was never so impressed with the phone -- its look, feel, operating system and price were all turn-offs. Since its not-so-epic return, it's no longer classified as a smartphone.
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