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Microsoft boss Robbie Bach described the company's new Kin phones, aimed at the younger, chattier, socially switched-on user, as "couture software with hardware that is custom fit".

The codename for the project was "Pink" and Mr Bach gave a nod to that by sporting a pink shirt at the press event in downtown San Francisco.

There were plenty of rumours that the new phones were going to be called Dove or Turtle, but the software giant opted for Kin - we don't know why but my guess is it's short for kinship and is a play on the whole friends thing.

A lot of the bloggers, gadget sites and analysts seemed to like the Kin straight out of the box, though the time spent with it was limited and with a Microsoft whizz on hand to do demos.

The smaller Kin One has a 2.6 inch display and a five-megapixel camera and is shaped like a compact mirror while the Kin Two has a 3.6 inch screen and an eight-megapixel camera. Both phones have a slide-out Qwerty keyboard.

Microsoft's senior product manager, Derek Snyder, told me the Kin is aimed at leveraging the world of social networking and keeping the 15-30-year-old user connected to their friends viaFacebook, Twitter and MySpace.

"We wanted to chase an opportunity we thought existed with young socially connected people - for folks that are obsessed with social networking, being able to share what's going on instantly, taking pictures of themselves in the mirror and getting comments on their outfits and posting them on Facebook or sending to friends."

Blogger Elian Fiolet of the gadget blog Ubergizmo said she was impressed by the Kin in large part.

"The best feature is the fact it is connected to the cloud and automatically people can upload their pictures without knowing on their websites."Most people don't know how to download a picture from their phone to their computer and a lot go to the store to find out how to do it. I think this is the best feature ever to have the phone in synch with your computer."

Ms Fiolet also added that leveraging the power of the cloud to keep the software updated was a big bonus but she was disappointed that the choice of social networks is limited.

"One downside is not having a Flickr connection. Also even though they have a Twitter integration, you cannot upload a picture on Twitter. However Microsoft has said they can add more features over the air and that is a great feature, having your phone update automatically through the cloud."

For fellow blogger and Ubergizmo co-founder, Hubert Nguyen, price will be key.

"Even though the experience is limited to a few things, the few things it does, it does very well. The downside is that people will compare it to smart phones like Android and the iPhone and price will be a big deal here."

He also said that some users might be disappointed by the Kin and its limitations.

"The education will have to go into teaching users what they are going to get with the Kin and managing those expectations because when people see a phone like this that reacts and looks like a smartphone they expect a smartphone and that is not what it is."

Ina Fried, senior writer at CNET.com pointed out that while Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Research in Motion's Blackberry might seem like the obvious target for the Kin, it isn't.

"This isn't going to take on the iPhone and it's not trying to," she said.

However she pointed out that this play in the feature phone market does carry some risk.

Feature phones are generally thought of as devices between so-called dumb phones which just use voice and text and the more powerful smartphones where you can surf the web, take photos, video, listen to music, store contacts, calendar, download apps, check maps and so on.

"Traditionally a lot of people didn't buy smartphones they bought feature phones but more and more people are buying these smartphones, their first Blackberry, their first iPhone. I definitely think this is a big market today but the question is does it stay a big market."

Microsoft's Derek Snyder thinks the Kin user of today will become the mobileWindows Phone 7 user of tomorrow.

"We saw this as a big opportunity not just in terms of the size of this audience, but also in terms of its influence. And with the Kin, I would argue specifically that we are going off in a new vector. "We wanted to go head over heels for the socially connected market. I think with the Kin we have an opportunity to help users graduate up to a Windows 7 phone when their needs change."

From a business standpoint, the Kin is being seen as the company's effort to claw back some market share in the ever increasingly lucrative mobile market.

Gartner research said the company ended 2009 holding just 8.7% of the smartphone market, down from 11.8% in 2008.

Van Baker, a vice president of research at Gartner said while he thinks the hardware could be improved upon, the Kin might well have a future.

"The keyboard feels really small to me and the square device of the Kin One is the kind of device people will either love it or hate it."If Microsoft can get this into the market and get some traction and some excitement around the user experience, then I think we can see it move to other devices over time."

This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.