When Microsoft first launched the KIN and we got word of what the prices were going to be I said at the time that Verizon had just killed the KIN before it even had a chance. It wasn’t so much the prices for the social phone itself, which really was fairly decent, but rather the extreme short-sightedness of the price Verizon wanted for their data plan to go with it.
I said as much in my post at The Inquisitr following the announcement:
The problem is, and what is almost certain to kill off any big adoption of the KIN’s is that Verizon has decided that they are going to want the same $30.00 data plan just as all of their other smartphones.
As well Paul and I talked about this very thing in this past weekend’s episode of WinExtra on Windows but now we are getting word that Verizon is looking to cut the prices of the KIN – which will still require you to use the mail-in rebate.
According to Boy Genius the KIN will be going on sale as of June 28 with the KIN One dropping to $29.99 and the KIN Two on sale for $49.99. While it is nice to see that the prices of the actual equipment is dropping right into the range of the KIN’s target audience – teenagers – the fact is that Verizon is cutting the wrong price.
Where the real price cut should have been is in the re-occurring cost of the data plan. While the target audience of the KIN might have been able to come up with the money for the purchase of the handset being able to keep up with the monthly data plan cost is another matter altogether.
In the typical short-sightedness, and greed, Verizon has gone for the quick money instead of treating the KIN as the customer stepping stone that it could have been. Even at the previous handset price if Verizon had set the data plan to match the youth market that the KIN was aimed at they could have created a user base who at some point would want to move up to a full smartphone.
If they had set their data plan prices with that in mind the chances are that when these young KIN users were in the market to move up their first inclination would be to go with a Verizon offering, especially if Verizon planned for that. Now though they get nothing because those potential future customers can’t afford the current KIN data plans.
Dumb move Verizon.
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