Hamlet might have had something to say about the new
Kin One and
Kin Two phones from Microsoft and
Verizon
Wireless. The Ham-himself said, "A little more than kin, and less than kind". - (Act
I, Scene II)." Maybe he would Twitter to Opheilia "Get U 2 a Nun-R-E!" Hamlet's comments pre-dejavu the recent uproar about the
Kin One and
Kin Two phones.
Reviewers have not been kind about the extra fees teens, and tweens will have to pay for the
KIN One and
KIN Two. The less than kind Kin phones require a minimum of
$70 per month for voice and data service, which means the total cost
will be at least $3,410 for two years.
Spokespeople for the companies defended the choice to charge full data
plans for these more than features phone but less than a smartphone
handsets because the KIN phones offer automatic cloud-based backup of
video, pictures and other data. Even though users can't buy third party
apps. Microsoft apps will be coming with when Kin merges in future
versions with Windows Phone 7.
"Over the longer term, we'll be
merging [Kin and Windows Phone 7]
platforms and having downloadable apps," said Greg Sullivan, senior
product manager in Microsoft's mobile communications unit told Computer
World.
"We're introducing a new category that's not exactly a smartphone and
certainly more than a high-end feature phone -- a social or cloud phone
-- with a rich browsing experience and rich multimedia social
networking, where everything I do on the phone is automatically backed
up in the Kin Studio [in the cloud]," Sullivan said.
Brenda Raney, a spokeswoman for Verizon, said she has seen the critics' comments about the service plan
costing too much added that Verizon has seen many users already paying
$70 for a monthly smartphone. She noted that the Kin phones are designed
... to be a full-service device [for] the person whose life is
about networking."
Raney also noted the Kins' biggest feature is backing up video files,
photos and other data in the Kin Studio cloud, that can be accessed with
a PC or Mac with Silverlight.
Okay, here's Hamlet's Tweet, "KIN not Kind, Pay 4 backup, cloud, media & web."
Maybe we should quote a Winter's Tale, "You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely".
- (Act I, Scene I).
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