Microsoft has said that it is killing the Kin line of mobile telephones it unveiled in April to win over young people enthralled by online social networking.

"Microsoft has made the decision to focus on the Windows Phone 7 launch and will not ship Kin in Europe this fall as planned," the US technology giant said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

"Additionally, we are integrating our Kin team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from Kin into future Windows Phone releases."

Microsoft added that it will continue to work with US telecom service provider Verizon to sell Kin smartphones that have already been made.

The "Kin One" and "Kin Two" phones, which both feature touchscreens and slideout keyboards, were being manufactured by Japan's Sharp and were made available in the United States through Verizon Wireless in May.

"I am surprised the product ever saw the light of day," said analyst Matt Rosoff of Directions On Microsoft, a private firm devoted to tracking the US technology colossus.

"I am not surprised they killed it."

The Kin smartphone platform launch had been delayed and competed with Windows Phone 7 devices due for release later this year.

"It made no sense for them to release Kin in the first place," Rosoff said. "This is what they should have done all along."

Eliminating Kin models after less than two months on the market could mean that sales were dismal and that Microsoft wants to fold any related financial loss into its fourth fiscal quarter, which ended yesterday.

"It seemed like the news caught even the Kin team by surprise today," Rosoff said.

Kin smartphones had been introduced at a press event by Robbie Bach, who is being replaced as president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division as part of a shake-up announced in May.

Microsoft is replacing top executives at its gaming and mobile devices division, which has stumbled in the smartphone and tablet computer markets.

Bach, 48, will retire by year's end from his post.

Bach joined the company in 1988.

Entertainment devices chief technology officer James "J" Allard will also leave Microsoft, becoming a strategic adviser to chief executive Steve Ballmer.

Products launched by the division include Xbox 360 videogame consoles, blockbuster videogames, and Zune gadgets for digital music and video.