Microsoft Kin

> During a [media event in San Francisco today](http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/04/iveblog-mobile-pink-event.ars), Microsoft revealed the spiritual successor to the Danger Sidekick messaging phone. Called “[KIN](http://kin.com/),” the new platform is designed with a heavy focus on social networking and is targeted mainly towards younger users that Microsoft has dubbed the “social generation.” So yet another platform from Microsoft. For those keeping score, we now have the Zune HD, Windows Mobile 6.5, Windows Phone 7, and now Kin. None of which is compatible with the other. Most of which haven’t shipped yet.

And let’s not forget Courier, which hasn’t even been officially announced yet. That will be an entirely different platform, too.

Seems like Microsoft is less of a single company, and more like several different smaller companies that don’t talk to each other at all. Considering how many different phone strategies they have, you’d think they’d take the time to call each other once in a while to find out what the others are up to. Maybe even schedule a meeting or two.

This KIN thing is clearly the result of Roz Ho’s failed Pink project. But rather than admit a clear failure and dump the strategy for the better (albeit still insufficient) Windows Phone 7, someone at Microsoft said “hey, why not just release them both, and see which one sticks.”

Great way to inspire developers to write software for your platform(s), guys.

Apple’s unifying the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad platforms is starting to look more and more like the right strategy. Though I still believe that iPad will have to branch out a bit into its own as the two products evolve over time, starting the iPad with 150,000+ iPhone apps out of the gate (and having a pool of developers who could use the same tools they already have been using) was clearly a good idea.

Microsoft needs to get out of the consumer space before it embarrasses itself any further.