Microsoft's Kin series of phones has had a rough infancy. Its initial reviews were anything but praiseworthy, and the only feature that everyone could agree was nice was the Studio cloud-based content backup service, which isn't part of the phone at all. While Microsoft swears that many of the complaints people had, such as the ability to download third party applications, will be rectified in future updates, much of the review ire came from the steep price points. Since Kin was having trouble putting itself in either smartphone or featurephone categories comfortably, it was dubbed a socialphone, but was given the pricing treatment of a smartphone. Verizon wanted the full thirty dollars a month data plan, and the Kin 1 and 2 were being sold for $49.99 and $99.99 after a two-year commitment to Verizon. For many, this was an outrageous price for a phone that had virtually no flexibility and didn't have the specs or functionality of phones in the same price range.
Best Buy is heeding the call, according to Engadget. They have taken $50 off both phones, making the Kin 1 free with a two year contract and the Kin 2 $50 after contract. Best Buy does away with mail-in rebates when you buy from their store, so you won't have to worry about that either. However, you will still need the $30 per month data plan from Verizon, and that alone may keep potential buyers away.
Image courtesy of Engadget
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