﻿ Kin network pricing is youth extortion: $85 a month | ZDNet

Kin network pricing is youth extortion: $85 a month

Kin network pricing is youth extortion: $85 a month


TOPICS: Networking



In short:





  • KIN One + voice only: $1,010
  • KIN One + voice and data: $1,727
  • KIN Two + voice only: $1,060
  • KIN Two + voice and data: $1,777




*thud* *thud*


Will you buy one for yourself or your teenage kid?

Topic: Networking



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  • Kins suck massive amounts of data - they should pay

    Every time a Kin takes a photo, the unit automatically uploads it to Microsoft's cloud service, whether the user wants to or not. Everything goes to the cloud. With hundreds of 8 megapix photos, that's an avalanche of data. Why shouldn't Kin users pay?
  • What a waste

    Still not sure why everyone wants to whine over the cost of the data plan.

    Oh, that is right, iPhone's data plan is free!!! Not...

    That sound is me rolling my eyes over such a worthless article I read.
  • How ignorant to use "extorsion" in this blob. Apple's equiv. plan is 129.

    Add up how much a young person pays for an iphone, the apps they buy, the crappiest service in the world, AT&T (take a look at how much that is per month), the pay as you go money they spend at itunes etc etc.

    This is actually cheap for a far more functional phone for young people. Just what they want and the way they use technology. No 129.99 a month to AT&T plus apps, itunes etc etc.
    MS did their homework on this one. Dead on.

    What BS to even post this garbage. And the Zune pass is a great deal. You get to keep as much music as 15.00 would buy you on itunes PLUS listen to any music you want, any time in addition.

    And, you don't have to buy a Zune pass, that is totally optional and you can load your existing music on it instead or buy as you go, which has never gone away, sort of like with itunes....you've heard of it?
  • One sided article

    To be fair, the article should compare the prices and plans for similar devices, not just pick on one and say it's too expensive.

    Having said that, compared to the price and features of my current smart phone contract, this does look very expensive though.
    Fred Fredrickson
  • RE: Kin network pricing is youth extorsion: $85 a month

    "Extortion" really? anyways even though i disagree with your article , One other thing to keep in mind is the zune pass is good for 3 devices....

    This is more of Verizon shooting itself in the foot than Microsoft or its partners. The $29.99 plan is crazy for a feature phone like this. And because its a feature phone that's most likely why you don't see a lot of apps for it - probably a restriction from Verizon. I have a Verizon feature phone and yes there are apps for it but no one buys them because Verizon charges $2.99 a month subscription for them.
    Loverock Davidson
  • RE: RE: Dont forget text

    I noticed your plan scenarios don't include text messaging. Isn't this phone basically the new Sidekick? Isn't one of it's primary purposes for the Kin's existence to text? Add that -- and Zune Pass in -- and you've got a $100 plan on a dumbphone

      @BiffTannen1955 Good point. I would have thought that text messages would have come as part of the smartphone - the voice - plan, as texts are very, very rarely sent over the data network, which is a different package.
    • RE: dumbphone? Because it's from Microsoft maybe?

      For the same data/voice plan with iphone you are looking at 120.00 a month, just for the plan. That doesn't include apps, itunes purchases, etc etc. <br>This is a deal. MS hit the nail on the head. <br>Especially since these phones are best of breed. <br>
      The zune pass gives you more songs to keep then you'd get spending the 15.00 at itunes, and on top of all of those keepers, you get to listent to any music you want, as much as you want wherever and whenever you want w/o another dime. It's the best deal by far.
      But many people don't seem to understand that nobody is forcing you to buy the zune pass. Just like you are not obligated to buy 20 songs on itunes per month or have a minimum app purchase quota you must reach to keep your plan active. I mean WTH? You can still buy tunes from zune one at at time, just like itunes.
      ARE you people brain dead or just seriously ABM stock who feel they have to make stuff up to put a stain on anything MS does. <br>Then later this year the WP7 will be along to clean up the rest of the market. <br> <br><img border="0" src="http://www.cnet.com/i/mb/emoticons/wink.gif" alt="wink">