Microsoft Kin Critics Venting On Facebook

Kin, Microsoft's effort to appeal to teens and young adults with social networking oriented devices, hasn't had a great debut. Verizon Wireless's feedback forums are filled with complaints about Kin devices' short battery life, the buggy performance of their Windows Phone-based OS, and their lack of support for third party apps, among other issues.

Microsoft's Kin page on Facebook has nearly 198,000 "friends," and while the majority sound like actual young people enamored with what Kin represents, there are also plenty of negative views.

Some comments are merely snarky: "Ugly freakin' phone," wrote Facebook user Amber Keefe.

Others sarcastically speculate on why Best Buy cut its price on Kin One and Kin Two less than a month after Kin's launch. "Is the price cut is just to ditch inventory ahead of discontinuing the Kin?" wrote Facebook user Calvo Adolfo.

"These phones suck so bad they have to give them away!" noted Facebook user Jeffry Romeo Aldana.

Of course, the tinfoil hat view holds that these comments are coming from Apple, Google, or any of the other companies that have been eating Microsoft's lunch in mobile. Anyone could sign up for a Facebook and start bashing the heck out of Microsoft's Kin devices.

And yet, there are also some valid criticisms on Kin's Facebook page, including ones that strike directly at the mandatory $30 monthly data plan Verizon requires for Kin subscribers, which pushes users' monthly bill to virtually the same level as full-fledged smartphones.

"Cut the data in half to represent that this phone is NOT a smartphone and you might sell these things," wrote Facebook user Jerod Singley.

Microsoft deserves credit for not censoring the comments and letting the community effect -- positive or negative -- drive the discussion around Kin. Unlike Apple, Microsoft also allows comments on its various product team blogs. And surely, Microsoft anticipated that not all of the feedback on the Kin Facebook page would be glowing.

One thing that's clear from the Kin Facebook page is that social media is very much an untamed animal, and companies that try to harness its energy will have to be ready to take the bad with the good.