In a quiet move to apparently drive the sales of the not-too-well-received Microsoft handsets - Kin One and Kin Two - Verizon has slashed their prices, merely six weeks after their release.

With the price cut in place, the biscuit-shaped Kin One and the side-sliding Kin Two now cost $29.99 and $49.99 respectively, after a $100 discount and a two year Verizon contract; instead of their earlier prices of $49.99 and $99.99 respectively.

Talking about the price reduction of both the Microsoft Kin handsets, Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney told Bloomberg that the cut in price is a part of the carrier's broader set of price reductions; and that the carrier is "comfortable" with the way the Kin smartphones have been accepted by the customers.

Despite Raney's statement about the `comfortable' sales of the handsets, there have been notable rumors about the supposedly dismal sales figures for both the `Kins' - including one unconfirmed Business Insider rumor that lowballed total Kin sales at just about 500 units.

The May launch of the Sharp-manufactured Kin handsets had essentially marked Microsoft's foray into the smartphone hardware arena, which is largely dominated by established bigwig players like Motorola, HTC and others.

According to the PCMag. com review, the two Kin handsets were less of social networking phones as claimed by the company, and more of "underpowered smartphones."