Joshua Topolsky Reports on What Went Wrong With the Kin

Joshua Topolsky, reporting on information from “a reliable source”:

It seems that after doing some initial work on these phones based around Danger’s proprietary Sidekick OS, Andy Lees — the SVP of Microsoft’s mobile division — instructed everyone to go back to the drawing board and rebuild the OS based on Windows CE. It appears the company didn’t want a project that wasn’t directly connected to its Windows kernel. This move allegedly set the release of the devices back 18 months, during which time [Verizon] became increasingly frustrated with the delays.

Mindless “Windows everywhere” politics. 18 months is forever in this industry. And why in the world did they buy Danger if they were just going to scrap the OS anyway? What a mess.

★ Thursday, 1 July 2010