The Kin phones from Microsoft launched last month, with the Kin One costing $50 and the Kin Two costing $100 after rebate.  The phones are somewhere between a feature phone and smartphone, aimed directly at pre-teens to those in their early twenties.  The only problem was that the phones were just a bit too expensive for that market.  Best Buy has answered by lowering the phones by $50 each, bringing the Kin One to free on a two-year contract, and the Kin Two to $50 with a two-year contract. {Engadget}

That still doesn’t solve the problem of the $30 data contract required for the phones, however.  With actual phone service, the total comes in around $70/month. That, unfortunately for Best Buy, is left up to Verizon Wireless and Microsoft.  Given the phones’ market, it’s more likely that the users parents would be buying the phones and paying the contracts every month.  It’s not very likely that there are a lot of parents who are willing to spend an extra $30 per month on a phone that can only really use Twitter, Facebook and the mobile web, but coupled with enough pressure from teens the free price tag of the Kin One could be convincing.  Still, with the price of the monthly data plan, we’re betting that the tech savvy teens will save their leverage to get a Palm Pre Plus or Droid Incredible instead.

Today, Microsoft’s KIN phones will be released on Verizon Wireless to masses of “generation upload” users dying to get their hands on the social network-centric devices.  The phones themselves actually aren’t bad, the KIN ONE, despite the odd form is actually a cute-looking phone.

The problem many would have with the phones is that both come with $30 a month data plans, the same plans that come with all other Verizon smartphones.  That means that the phones will cost at least $70 a month to use.  For phones directed at mainly teenagers, adding a mandatory data plan that costs as much as say a Droid Incredible or Motorola Droid doesn’t make much sense.

Microsoft has responded to those claims by saying that the KIN phones will eventually have apps.  The apps would be the same as the apps on the upcoming Windows Phone 7 as the two platforms merge {Electronista}.  For now, however the phones remain app-less.  The plan for KIN is actually a bit reminiscent of the original iPhone, with no apps outside of the built-in Apple apps.  That doesn’t mean the KIN phones will reach the popularity of the iPhone, but the promise of something more than the current basic options is intriguing.

It wouldn’t be surprising, though, if the KIN phones, as they merged with the Windows Phone 7 encounter the same issues that Android phones are encountering with fragmentation.  The KIN ONE, with it’s smaller screen might have trouble running apps built for larger screens, which could lead to confused or frustrated users.  It happens now with the wide range of Android versions being used right now, and hopefully Microsoft has a way around the problem that doesn’t leave out those who buy the KIN phones on the promise of apps in the future.

Image {HighTech Review}