Microsoft’s social phone – one for the kids?

Microsoft has today launched its new Windows phone – the KIN. But the launch signals so much more than just another handset in the telecoms sector.

In a bid to pry away market share from leader Apple and its iPhone, and close second Google’s Android, Microsoft has come up with a different approach to its challenger handset. It’s going social.

Everybody knows that social media has changed the way we communicate, especially young people.

Kids are leading the world’s transition to digital media. Recent research from the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that (somewhat obviously) kids aren’t afraid of technology because they’ve grown up with it.

So if you want to get a sense of where the world’s media habits are headed, it makes sense to watch what kids are doing (more specifically, kids ages 8 to 18).

Microsoft knows this. It knows kids want their social lives on tap – at the touch of the button. And the KIN should capitalize on this.

And, it’s not about apps, it’s about connecting to existing networks.

According to Microsoft, the KIN is designed to be the ultimate social experience that blends the phone, online services and the PC with new experiences it calls the “Loop”, “Spot” and “Studio”.

The various experiences place the social happenings of the user on the phones interface, rather than having annoying icons…this way the phone looks more like a personalised pocket computer.
“Spot” allows users to share – a key habit of the tech savvy youngsters.

Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft, said that the company saw an opportunity to design a mobile experience just for this social generation: “a phone that makes it easy to share your life moment to moment.”

With KIN, social networking is built into the fabric of the phone, according to the tech giant.
But is social and sharing enough to sell a phone?

I am tempted to think that while this may be the newest gadget that serves the curiosity of the tech savvy young, they will outgrow it quicker than they would say an iPhone or an Android.

The KIN lays music (Zune) takes photos and connects to the internet but is it as interactive as an iPhone?Is there enough to do with this KIN that can keep the kids entertained for at least a year until the upgrade to the next big thing? Furthermore, the new iPhone is just months away.

Perhaps Microsoft isn’t hoping for mass market though…could this be just a “unique” offering. Just a phone for the kiddies? What do you think…