Earlier this year the spectacular failure of the Microsoft KinOne and KinTwo came to epitomize Microsoft’s efforts in the mobile phone market. The two phones weren’t horrible devices in and of themselves, but they were saddled with a smartphone label and pricing that they clearly did not live up to. After selling fewer than 10,000 units in the first six weeks, Microsoft and Verizon summarily canceled the devices and sent all the unsold units back to the warehouse.

It now appears that the Kins might be back, at least for a little while. A leaked Verizon product roadmap for the rest of this year shows the renamed Kin OneM and TwoM coming back as “enhanced” feature phones. The feature phone designation means that they are no longer subject to the data plans that are mandatory for all Verizon smartphones.

Features like the Kin Studio that automatically backed up photos and video to the cloud are expected to be dropped now that a data plan is optional, although Zune Music is still available over WIFI. Those that want data access now have the option of Verizon’s new tiered pricing that gives 150 MB of data for $15 a month. If Verizon had offered this kind of pricing when the devices had originally launched, they might have had a chance. Unfortunately they are coming back just as a slew of low-end Android devices like the Motorola Citrus are arriving with real smartphone capability and the type of social connections built in to the Kins. This might be enough for Verizon to unload the remaining stock of phones but it probably won’t make it a lasting success.

Recently my daughter’s cell phone line became eligible for its biennial discounted upgrade and she wanted to get an Android phone. When I checked the Verizon Wireless website I found that the company had made a change in policy for online purchases.

For years, Verizon has offered many of its phones in its brick and mortar stores with a mail-in-rebate which typically amounted to $100. Mail in rebates need to be banned and I won’t buy anything with a rebate.  If you went to the Verizon website you could generally get the same phones but instead of the mail-in-rebate, the discount was taken off when the phone was ordered so you didn’t have to pay extra up front and then try to get it back weeks or months later.

Verizon has now changed that to a mail in rebate and worse yet now, you don’t just get a check, you get a Verizon debit card so you have to spend it at Verizon. For the Droid Incredible that Sofie wanted I would have had to pay $299 and then get the debit card. After shopping around I found I get the same phone and do the Verizon upgrade on Amazon.com for just $79, no rebates of any kind.  From now on I’ll probably be buying new phones from amazon.