Microsoft’s Studio online service–perhaps the only good thing about its ill-fated Kin phones, but it’s pretty darn cool–is going offline on January 31st. The move effectively turns the Kins from smartphones into dumbphones by disabling much of their functionality. Verizon Wireless is offering Kin owners replacement 3G phones of their choice, but the sudden shutdown, less than nine months after the Kin went on sale, still seems like a shabby way to treat people who bought into Microsoft’s short-lived Kin hoopla.

 
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Read more: Microsoft, Microsoft Kin, Smartphones, Verizon Wireless