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They’ve barely been out six months, but Microsoft has already decided to scrap the entire project and pulled the plug on its range of “social” handsets which had started with the Microsoft Kin One and Microsoft Kin Two.

The company declared the death sentence on the highly pocketable, social-networking focussed  handsets in a brief press statement:

Microsoft has made the decision to focus on the Windows Phone 7 launch and will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned.

Additionally, we are integrating our KIN team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from KIN into future Windows Phone releases. We will continue to work with Verizon in the U.S. to sell current KIN phones.

Microsoft gave no reason for the rudely swift cancellation of the Kin range,  but it seems poor sales were a key issue, with rumoured sales estimated at ‘more than 1,000 but less than 10,000 units’ – a long, long way below expectations.

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