Just six weeks after launch, Microsoft’s Kin, the social phone we wanted to love, is dead. Microsoft is ending its short life, sources close to Microsoft tell us.

There won’t be a separate Kin product anymore. Effective immediately, Andy Lees is shoving the entire Kin team into the core Windows Phone 7 team, so there will just be one big group to focus on Windows Phone 7.

The major reason? Sales. Microsoft never confirmed (or denied) that only 500 Kins were sold, but it’s clear that the response has been completely underwhelming. Otherwise, why kill a project that was in development for years after just a few weeks? (And cost millions.)

A major reason it bombed, besides the weird, non-specific faux hipster marketing? Price. Verizon priced Kin’s monthly service like a smartphone, even though it wasn’t one. Even cutting the device price drastically didn’t alleviate the high cost of the monthly plan. (The confusing Kin, a Windows Phone 7 Phone by Microsoft flustercluck branding didn’t help.)

via Microsoft Kills Kin.