Microsoft's Kin, the range of social networking handsets targeted at teens which was released  just two months ago in U.S., will be killed by the company, according to CNET.

The Kin range included two handsets, the Kin One and the Kin Two, both of which are currently available on the Verizon network in U.S. The phones were expected to reach receive.

A European launch soon which now seems to have been canceled. Instead, Microsoft will be focusing more on its more important Windows Phone 7 platform, expected to be out later this year.

In a statement to CNET, Microsoft has confirmed that apart from putting off the European launch, the current Kin team would be amalgamated to the Windows Phone 7 team. The Kin will, however, continue to sell in U.S. until the company makes an official statement otherwise.The Kin was a result of Microsoft's vision to focus on the young segment of masses who were heavy users of social networking features. While the phone did have quite a few unique features, it came sans some basic features like calendar, expandable memory and so on.

Also, in U.S., for the price of the Kin, there were better smartphones available who are also adept at social networking - the Kin's USP. While Verizon and Microsoft both are yet to release an official statement regarding these new developments, signs of the fact the the Kin wasn't particularly doing well was evident from the dramatic price cuts the devices saw just a few hours ago. The price of the smaller Kin One was dropped to just $29.99 way lower than the $150 price-tag it originally came with.

As for the Kin Two, it is selling for $49.99 down from the $200 it used to retail at.As of now, the Kin looks alive and kicking with no signs of it going off the sales charts. The website is alive and kicking, and as we said before, there has been no official statement from Microsoft. Even the Twitter account seems to be handling things as if all is well.

While it is a good thing for Microsoft to focus on its single most important mobile product, the Windows Phone 7, doing so by killing of another division of their mobile portfolio might just put undue pressure on the existing Windows Phone team. This is because they will have to ensure they have a really well designed, robust end product when the first of the Windows Phone 7 devices are out early next year.