Vodafone director outlines UK Kin plans

Microsoft's announcement of the new Kin phones might not have been the surprise it hoped after all the leaks on the web, but there was still a shock in store for the US.

While the US will get the Kin 1 and Kin 2 next month from Verizon, the UK isn't getting them until later in the year.

However, there is some better news as Patrick Chomet, Group Director of Terminals for Vodafone told TechRadar that it won't be as long to wait for a UK release date as people think.

Coming soon (er)

"[The Kin phones] will be coming to the UK in early autumn, just after the summer and clearly targeting the more youthful end of the market.

"It's part of the next wave of our aim to show smartphones are becoming mass market devices."

He also pointed out that the US was a much more 'mature' market for these devices, after the popularity of the Sidekick for the last few years.

Chomet also told us how Vodafone plans to show the public just what's possible with the new Kin platform:

"We've really started bringing smartphones to consumers this year

"We'll need to make an effort to show consumers what [the Kin phones] are about and we're already hard at work to show them what smartphones are all about in the UK.