Ever since Microsoft pulled the plug on the KIN devices, rumors have been swirling about the number of devices that were sold in the platform's short lifespan.  Originally we had heard that the number was as low as 503, which seemed a little low, even for the KIN.  Sure, it probably didn't sell well, but only 503 devices sold to the nearly 310,000,000 people in the U.S.?  After doing some quick research, Pocket Now has learned that there were at least 8,810 KINs sold.  They got this number through some fairly simple sleuthing: they just checked Facebook.  Whenever a KIN user loads up a Facebook account on their KIN device, that person is registered with the KIN Facebook group.  Considering that Facebook and Twitter are kind of what the KIN experience is all about, the number of users in the KIN Facebook group would be a good measure of the number of devices sold.  We won't know the real sales numbers until Microsoft or Verizon release them, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that that number is around 8,810.

The whole KIN situation was a bad deal for Microsoft.  After all of the research and development done with the KIN, to only sell a little under 9,000 units is pretty disappointing.  Still, the fact that Verizon couldn't nail down decent pricing for the devices is at least partially to blame for the KIN's death.  Pricing the phones the same as more powerful smartphones, especially since the KINs had no app store or anything like that, was a bad idea from the start.  Still, we can hope that some of the better parts of the KINs, like the KIN Studio, will make it into the upcoming Windows Phone 7 OS at some point.  Do any of you know someone who owns a KIN device?

Via Pocket Now