Thursday, July 08, 2010

Microsoft KIN - Dead Already

Microsoft KIN was a joke when it was released. It did *nothing* that the iPhone (and likely Android) didn't already do better. What did Steve Ballmer and Ray Ozzie expect? Did they expect the market to fall over itself to buy an inferior product?  Microsoft KIN has been killed off.


I've said for quite some time now that Microsoft, under the "leadership" of Ballmer and Ozzie is a once-great ... See Morecompany who has become utterly directionless. There is no visionary at the wheel and no-one who understands what a leading tech company should be.

In June 2008 I blogged that Microsoft treated WinMo like a redheaded stepchild and then in Sep 2009 I blogged that Ballmer finally admitted I was right.

Nine months later WinMo 7 is still vaporware and this KIN abomination was released. This shows quite clearly that Microsoft is losing the plot. No wonder Apple is now a more highly valued company on the stock market than Microsoft! (And don't forget that Ballmer is an accountant, and a retail store accountant at that. It shows how little he knows about running what was a great tech company before he (and Ozzie) got given the reigns.)  I wonder how long any responsible Board would keep a "leadership" team that's performing this poorly in place?

Now, do you remember back to July 2009?  "'I don't know if they can't make up their mind or what the problem is over there, but the last time I checked, you don't need two client operating systems,' said Ballmer about Google. 'It's good to have one.'"  So, exactly how many client operating systems does Microsoft currently have?  (XP, Vista, 7, XP Embedded, Windows Embedded, KIN (now deceased), Zune, WinMo 6.5.x, WinMo 7 (still vaporware)...)  Ballmer has an issue with counting - and for an accountant, that's a serious issue!

Here's another opinion on the killing off of KIN.
Regards,

The Outspoken Wookie

3 comments:

Unknown said...

It was never really alive!

Unknown said...

It was planned!

Hilton Travis said...

Aahhh, pretend Steve Ballmer. If only Microsoft's leadership seemed to show an ounce of clue of late, maybe things would be different. Sure, Apple is seeing the results of its rise in success and will likely have to recall and reissue the iPhone 4 R2, but Microsoft is far from "getting it" when it comes to social media and communicating with their clients.

If only this was the real Steve Ballmer and I could have a serious discussion about he and Ray Ozzie's utter lack of direction. There's better people for those jobs, surely, and it has taken the Microsoft Board far too long to find them...