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"Microsoft launched its latest smartphone series, Kin, at its \"It's Time to Share\" event.\nChances are that the Kin phone series is not targeted at you. Despite its advertising \u2014 which reads like a walking Urban Outfitters catalog \u2014 Kin isn't targeted at me, either. Instead, Kin, formerly known as Project Pink, is really targeted at teenagers \u2014 especially younger teenagers. And that's why Kin might just be brilliant.\n\nLast month, when Project Pink was confirmed, we discussed whether or not this Windows Phone/Zune HD mashup  was a stopgap release before the Windows Phone 7 debuts this fall, or if it was instead something totally different. After reading the announcements and watching Ben Parr's hands-on video, it's clear that Kin is something different, yet at the same time familiar.\nThe Sidekick 2.0\nWhen Microsoft acquired Danger back in 2008, it wasn't really clear what would happen to the company. Kin, as our Co-Editor Ben noted earlier today, is the spiritual and social successor to the Sidekick. The form-factor of the Kin Two is a pretty steady evolution of the design that made the Sidekick such a success.\nEven before those cloud-backup woes, the Sidekick was long past its glory days in most demographics. However, there was one group of users still fiercely addicted to their flip and type devices: teenagers, specifically those in more urban or populous areas. Why? Because the device focused on a central part of many a teenager's life \u2014 texting.\n\n\n\n\nHowever, in the age of Facebook, Twitter and 3G wireless, there's more to being mobile than just texting. You want to be able to text, shoot photos and videos, and post to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and other services. Sure, every smartphone on the market \u2014 and a number of feature phones too \u2014 can do that, but with Kin, Microsoft has chosen to focus its energies on making those experiences better.\nFor instance, take a look at some of the stand-out features of the Kin One and Kin Two:\n\nZune Pass streaming over Wi-Fi or 3G - OK, so Spotify isn't in the U.S. right now and that sucks, but this is an incentive for teens to convince mom and dad to get them Zune Pass so they can access a huge catalog of music directly from their phones.\nConsolidated Social Networks - The Kin Loop pipes in stuff from Twitter, MySpace and Facebook and lets users share video, photos or messages across those networks too. By consolidating the social graph into one seamless interface, Kin avoids the whole \"what app will I choose\" paradox and instead makes shearing a more seamless and natural act. That's something that all smartphones can utilize, but younger users will especially benefit from not having to try to intersect with multiple networks.\nFocus on Photos and Video, not on Games - The Kin One has a 5-megapixel camera and the Kin Two has an 8-megapixel camera. Both can take 720p video. In fact, Engadget says that Kin is basically a Zune HD on the inside with one big caveat: It's not optimized for 3D games. However, offering a great photo and video experience and not focusing on games makes a lot of sense, especially since lots of teenagers will have a Nintendo DS or iPod touch to game on, rather than a cellphone.\nAwesome Battery Life - Plus, by eschewing games, Kin devices can reportedly last a weekend on a single charge. More than anything else, solid battery life is a critical feature in a phone aimed at younger mobile users.\n\nIn short, while the Sidekick succeeded because it made texting easy and central to the device, Kin could succeed because it puts sharing at the center of the device.\nIt's Not About Apps, It's About Connecting to Existing Networks\nBecause the underlying components of Kin and its OS are so similar to that of Windows Phone 7, my first thought was to worry about what kind of confusion the introduction of Kin might have on the greater Windows Phone developer community. Then it hit me: This isn't about apps. \n\n\n\n\nWhile Android and iPhone battle it out over developers and application libraries and other features, there exists a market of phone users that do not necessarily need or benefit from having access to a huge mobile application catalog. For younger users who are beyond the needs of a feature phone but really don't need a full-fledged smartphone (not to mention the added expense of apps), having apps is likely less important than having easy access to Facebook.\nA key part of Kin's success will be how well it continues to integrate with major networks and services. The desired user base won't necessarily care if his or her phone can be a musical device or translate Klingon on the fly \u2014 just as long as they can access their photos, music files and social graph.\nCloud Focus\nLike the Sidekick, Kin uses something called Kin Studio to store contacts, photos, video, bookmarks, text messages, status updates, etc. Unlike the Sidekick, accessing the data from any web browser is less of a utilitarian experience and is more fluid and within the same UI-style as the device itself.\n\n\nWhile the near-disaster with the Sidekick should serve as a warning for users to do their own local backups, having everything stored on the cloud makes losing a phone less painful and makes onboard memory less important. In turn, that can make phone prices come down.\nOur Concerns\nWhile we think Kin has a lot of potential to make a big dent in an untapped market \u2014 think My First Smartphone \u2014 we do have some concerns.\nFirst, price. Pricing wasn't revealed today but we firmly believe that both the price of the device and the price of the data plan have to be affordable and below other smartphones if Kin is going to take off. Again, look at Sidekick \u2014 one reason it remained successful with younger audiences after the rest of us moved on to Android, BlackBerry or iPhone devices was because of the value you could get from the service. I loved having my Sidekick circa 2005 without a voice plan; I paid about $20 per month for data only. \nWe don't expect Verizon to offer anything that compelling, but $99 a month isn't going to work.\nOur other concern is the design of Kin One. While I understand why the shape (a cross between a compact and something from Fisher-Price) would be easy to hold and potentially easy to slip into the pants or jacket of someone with a small frame (which as one such person, I can relate to), the shape isn't very compelling.  If your target audience is teenagers who want nothing more than peer acceptance, having a lame-looking phone could make it dead-on-arrival.\nWe'll have to wait until the Kin One launches to see if teenagers actually want a square-shaped phone.\nYour Thoughts\nAs I said at the beginning of this article, you are likely not the target audience for the Kin phones. However, we think that the device has a chance to take off with its intended audience. \nDo you agree with us?  What do you think of Kin? Do you think that a phone with more emphasis on social features and less on apps could take off with today's teens? Let us know.\n\nFor more mobile coverage, follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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