The KIN series of devices have been nothing short of a colossal blunder for Microsoft. After being pulled from store shelves after dismal sales, and then reemerging several months later, KIN Studio is now officially closed.
The pulling of the plug on the service is effectively killing the device as much of its original services no longer function. Features including photo sharing, search near me, social media integration are all no longer working on the devices which renders them essentially useless for anything other than making phone calls or texting. Although WPcentral is reporting that Zune pass still appears to be working over 3G despite originally being told that the service would only work over WiFi.
This officially marks the end of the Kin program for Microsoft. When it was unveiled it was aimed at teens and was originally supposed to be offered with data plan below that cost less than a plan for a smartphone. But when the monthly pricing was the exact same as a smartphone, the Kin was dead before it ever hit the store shelves. While rumors that Microsoft missed Verizon"s deadline for launching the device and that"s why they gave it a higher data price point surfaced, the real truth may never be known about the what really happened.