Hipsters and Office Politics: The Failure of the Microsoft Kin

Let’s pause our Zunes for a moment and reflect upon yet another Microsoft branding fiasco.  A few weeks ago the software giant cancelled its new social media based phone – the Kin – after only six weeks on the shelves.  With estimated sales during that time period ranging between 500 to just short of 10 thousand units, it’s no surprise that the product was pulled.  But why did it fail so miserably?  Let’s poke fun at high-tech’s uncool kid, Microsoft, to find out the answer.

Problems with the phone began early on, and were simply Microsoft politics.  Engadget reports that the initial conflict arose when Microsoft’s J Allard began to support Kin (or Project Pink as it was called at the time) in 2008.  Allard, who also championed Xbox and Zune, saw loads of potential in Kin’s software: yet, during this time Windows Mobile 7, a more traditional and promising product, was also being developed. This is when things got…dramatic.

Andy Lees, the chief of Windows Mobile, was apparently never a fan of the Kin project,  as he felt that it impeded the development of Windows Mobile 7. As a result, the Kin was retooled and its release date was moved to work better with the Microsoft timeline. The whole situation, with all its badmouthing and competition, was not unlike an episode of The Hills, though perhaps less well produced (not that I’ve ever seen it).

With corporate politics running amuck and an unexpected rehashing of the phone’s Verizon plan, the Kin had the odds stacked against it to say the least.  And just when things couldn’t get any worse, Microsoft’s branding team put the final nail in Kin’s coffin.

In an attempt to reach younger consumers, Microsoft did what many companies are doing today – it took advantage of the growing influence of hipsters.  With their blasé attitude, skinny jeans, and rock and roll lifestyle, Microsoft saw these urban twenty-somethings as their key to success.  Yet, there was one problem – Microsoft failed to recognize that what makes hipsters “hip” isn’t just their obscure iPod playlists- they are actually hip to many of the mass marketing ploys now geared towards them, and it utterly offends their very “I’m-different -just -like -you -are” sensibilities.  A writer from Gizmodo explains, “Kin’s models look like caricatures of those kids, from that neighborhood, in pretty much any city, as drawn by marketing executives.”  Not cool.

Personally, I couldn’t agree more (thus the writing of this blog).  Having lived in the hipster Mecca of Montreal for some time now, I can confidently say that this type of association is laughable to say the least.  Young consumers don’t care if their phone has trendy ads.  They don’t need their phone to “like” fixed-gear bikes and bands they’ve never heard of.  What is truly important is the functionality of the phone – and that is what Microsoft ignored.  Regardless of how cool they tried to make the phone look, consumer feedback was unanimous – user experience was terrible.

And it wasn’t just the phone that met with disapproval.  The fabricated youth culture portrayed in those ads also lent to loads of criticism.  Not only were young people not taking the bait, but older, more traditional audiences also had a bone to pick.  In one of Kin’s commercials, it was suggested that the phone would be great for sending nude photos to your friends (at least it does something well).  The controversy from the ad could have perhaps scored with younger consumers, but once again the poor performance of the phone couldn’t be ignored by the audience it targeted.  In the end, the ad only created another hurdle for Microsoft.

All in all, we have learned some important lessons from Microsoft and the Kin.  First, don’t let your office dramas get in the way of your product’s success.  Next, remember that technology becomes hip when it is functional and user friendly – not because ad execs tell you it is.