Now Microsoft has announced that Kin will not be coming to Europe, and that it will be moving those who are still on the Kin team to the Windows Phone 7 team, which would hopefully brings some of Kin to the new smartphone platform.  Microsoft will still continue selling the Kin One and Two with Verizon, but it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing it on any other carriers any time soon, as in not ever.

According to report from Engadget, it looks like Kin may have been doomed from the start.  Microsoft had Danger, the guys who did the original software on the Sidekick, switch from building on top of Danger and switching to a Windows CE-based system.  That delay bothered Verizon, the partner for Kin, and possibly ruined any chance at getting the cheaper data plans the Kin so desperately needed in order to succeed.  With smartphone pricing and the typical expensive data plans, the Kin would ultimately fail before even getting a chance – even with Best Buy offering them up for free.  There’s a lot more corporate politics over at the Engadget story which makes for an interesting read.

The Kin seemed like a great idea, even without the apps.  Connecting to social networks easily along with the cute form factor of the Kin One seemed perfect for the teenage market.  The fact that most of it’s users wouldn’t be able to afford or convince their parents to pay up for a data plan was a major issue, when it got to that point, an iPhone or Droid would seem to make much more sense.

The Kin Studio was perhaps the greatest idea, and hopefully is something that finds it’s way into Windows Phone 7 when that launches, likely in October.  Being able to find and send/upload/download all the photos taken on your phone arranged in chronological order would be fantastic.  It might be too late in WP7’s development cycle to implement it, but it could always come as an update later on, or even a cheap pay-per-month service if it was really needed.

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}