SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft introduced a line of mobile phones Monday that are focused on social-networking features to win over teens and young adults who have flocked to devices from Apple and Google.
Called Kin One and Kin Two, the phones will be made by Sharp and sold in the U.S. by Verizon starting in May, Microsoft said in a statement. Microsoft’s Robbie Bach, president of the mobile- phone unit, demonstrated the phones Monday.
The phones represent a new strategy for Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, which previously had only developed software for phone manufacturers, rather than getting deeply into hardware design itself. The move echoes Google’s decision to sell the Nexus One handset in addition to offering phone makers its Android operating system.
“We said, ‘Look, there’s a segment here that we can real ly go after deeply,’ ” Bach said. Bloomberg News
