5 discontinued Microsoft devices that had a lot of potential

From quirky software that couldn’t attract many users to underwhelming hardware with lackluster features, there’s no shortage of apps and gadgets in the tech graveyard. Microsoft, like other tech giants, has its fair share of discontinued products that could have taken the world by storm if only the company had tried to improve them.

While Cortana and Windows Movie Maker are often cited as the top examples of products discontinued by Microsoft, the company also has quite a lot of hardware that died early deaths. So, in this article, we’ll go over five of the best discontinued gadgets that could have changed the world, had Microsoft invested just a little more time and effort into them.

5 Microsoft Kin

A project doomed from the very beginning

Before its eventual release in 2010, Microsoft Kin had a rather long development cycle. Unfortunately, many of its initial features were neutered when the project’s lead switched in the middle of its development phase. But that wasn’t the only reason why Kin failed.

Even with the terrible app support, the Kin ONE and TWO were reasonably priced at $50 and $100, respectively. Unfortunately, it was Verizon’s mandatory two-year contract for data services that drove the final nail in the devices’ coffins. Since the network carrier’s contract required you to spend $70 every month on the devices, the devices ended up costing an additional $1,680 over the time frame of two years. That’s a price so exorbitant it makes Apple’s products look like budget devices.

In the end, Microsoft discontinued the first generation Kin devices months after their release. Although the company tried to make amends with the second-gen Kin m lineup, the damage was already done and by 2011, the Kin devices ended up biting the dust.

4 Xbox Kinect

A gimmicky device made worse by Microsoft’s attempts to force its adoption

When the original Kinect for the Xbox 360 hit the market in 2010, gamers lined up in throes to purchase the device due to its motion tracking and voice recognition features. Unfortunately, the success was rather short-lived as users began to realize the limited functionality of the camera – and the lack of proper titles that could use the new peripheral to its full potential didn’t help much in this regard.

But what truly killed the Kinect was Microsoft bundling the next-gen version of the accessory with every Xbox One console. Besides increasing the launch price of the Xbox One to $500, the newer version of Kinect had to be plugged into the console at all times, which led to rumors of the camera spying on users making the rounds. Although Microsoft went back on its word, the market for Kinect users had shrunk so considerably by 2016 that the firm removed the dedicated Kinect ports from the Xbox Series S and Series X consoles.

Eventually, Microsoft removed the Kinect series from the gaming landscape and began shipping models designed for developers. Sadly, even the Azure development kit was discontinued in 2023, bringing the saga of Microsoft’s motion-tracking cameras to a depressing end.

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3 Surface Neo

It didn’t even see the light of day

Source: Microsoft

Contrary to the rest of the products on this list, the Surface Neo didn’t even make it past the development stage. Announced in October 2019, the Surface Neo was a foldable PC-cum-tablet hybrid that had all the makings of a successful product.

Borrowing a lot of design concepts from the old Courier prototype, the Surface Neo packed two 9-inch displays that could turn into a huge 13-inch display in their unfolded state. The Surface Neo even had a neat little Bluetooth keyboard that you could attach to the screen using magnets or use from a distance. It was also supposed to feature a custom operating system called Windows 10X that modified the Windows Shell for foldable devices.

If any of these features (besides the OS) sound familiar, then yes, we do have similar products that were released for consumers, namely the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i and the HP Spectre Foldable. Sadly, the Surface Neo was never meant to be, as the Windows 10X ended up getting canceled and Microsoft shifted all its attention to the Android-based Surface Duo tablet instead.

2 Microsoft Zune

Terrible timing and the lack of standout features led to its downfall

When Apple released the iPod in 2001, the device quickly became popular in the consumer landscape and eventually went down in history as the series of the most popular MP3 players. Microsoft tried to compete with its rival by releasing the Zune media player, though the Redmond-based firm made a handful of mistakes with the device.

For starters, the company was rather late to the MP3 player party, as the original Zune was launched five years after the initial iPod. By this time, Apple was the dominant player in the market for audio players and the Zune didn’t have any worthwhile additions that could rival the feature-laden iPod. Sure, the Zune’s slightly larger screen and cleaner UI were great, but they couldn’t set it apart from the rest of the MP3 players.

A few years after the release of the iPhone, things came to a halt for the entire audio player market, and Zune was no different. In the end, the cool-looking Zune HD was the last device produced in the lineup, and the Zune devices were sent to the graveyard in October 2011.

1 Microsoft/Nokia Lumia

If only they had better apps and more support from Microsoft

Even among other discontinued products from Microsoft, the Windows Phone-powered Lumia devices stand out as colossal failures that could have been the third competitor in the smartphone landscape. In 2011, the ill-fated partnership between Microsoft and Nokia resulted in the mobile manufacturer switching to the Windows Phone OS from the outdated Symbian operating system.

During this time, Android and iOS were the main operating systems in the smartphone landscape, and just like the Zune, Microsoft took its sweet time getting to the mobile OS battlefield. However, even though there was still enough time for the Windows Phone to pick up steam, the OS just didn’t have enough features to warrant users to switch from Android or iOS.

For starters, the operating system had terrible app support, and due to Microsoft failing to get more third-party developers on board with the OS, there weren’t too many exclusive applications that made the Windows Phone devices worth buying. As such, while the initial Microsoft Lumia devices had rock-solid price-to-performance ratios, the average consumer continued to use Android or iOS devices instead.

What’s worse, instead of revising its strategy, the tech giant gave up on the Windows Lumia entirely. In 2017, Microsoft gave up on producing new hardware for smartphones, and with Windows 10 Mobile hitting EOL in January 2020, the Windows Lumia was finally put to rest.

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Which discontinued Microsoft product is your favorite?

Source: Internet Archive

Besides these five devices, there are a couple of other Microsoft products that would have been quite successful, if only the firm had tried to polish them a little. Take the SideWinder family of controllers, for instance. Besides bearing one of the best names in the history of gaming devices, the SideWinder series included controllers of all shapes and forms, including standard gamepads, driving wheels, and joysticks. Unfortunately, the lineup was discontinued a second time in 2014 and hasn’t been relaunched ever since.

Then, there was the Cordless Phone System that lasted for a year before Microsoft (warning: terrible pun ahead) pulled the plug on the telephone. The list becomes a few pages long once you include the amazing Microsoft apps that died too early to leave a mark on the computing world.