T-Mobile today restored the Sidekick to its lineup after having pulled it for more than a month after the results of its major data outage. Both the Sidekick 2008 and the newer Sidekick LX 2009 are back on sale and have been price-cut in a bid to renew interest. The LX 2009 has dropped by $25 to $150 on a two-year plan, while the older model now costs just $50 on the same terms.
T-Mobile USA has said on Wednesday that it has resolved Tuesday's nationwide network outage but is still investigating the source of the problem. In a statement, the wireless provider said about five percent of its subscribers throughout the US faced service disruptions for several hours, including the inability to access the data network or make 3G phone calls.
T-Mobile users tonight have been reporting a widespread outage of service across the US. Those affected are finding themselves unable to call or use data services like 3G or messaging. The exact cause of the outage isn't currently known.
Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer today provided a handful of minor revelations for his company's strategy in an interview today. In his discussion with Engadget, the executive has now all but confirmed that Windows Mobile 7 will "come hard" with elements of the Zune interface; previously, the company had only made indirect allusions to the software appearing in a future update. Most anticipate the release moving the phone OS towards a more touch-friendly platform as well as to give it stronger media playback.
Microsoft and T-Mobile today said they have begun restoring Sidekick data and have offered a guide for owners. The two now say they can restore contacts they might have lost that already existed on October 1st. Those Sidekick owners who created contacts to supplement or replace entries lost during the major outage can either keep both on-device and online sets, merge them or use only the set originating from the cellphone.
Microsoft may owe T-Mobile millions of dollars for its just-concluding Sidekick outage, an inside tip may have revealed today. Like most carriers, T-Mobile is believed to have a service level agreement (SLA) with Microsoft and Danger to guarantee uptime but may have a particularly costly deal with Microsoft. The MobileCrunch source claims that Microsoft will likely pay a rate roughly equal to $700,000 per day for the period it couldn't guarantee 99.5 percent availability of Sidekick services.
(Update #2 with T-Mobile plans) T-Mobile may let Sidekick owners affected by the permanent data loss drop their contracts and move to other phones, one subscriber says today. At least one customer reports to Gizmodo that he has been offered an early exit from his contract as well as having the option of buying a T-Mobile G1 for the same $130 price new or eligible customers would pay. BlackBerries and other smartphone-class devices have also been made options.
A major, avoidable error by Microsoft caused the permanent Sidekick data loss from over a week ago, sources said this weekend. Multiple tips to Hiptop3 claim that Microsoft had no backup of the Storage Area Network (SAN) used to hold Sidekick information and lost the data when Hitachi encountered a failure during an upgrade. The company may now have little choice but to start fresh and have users re-sync data from their Sidekicks once a fresh SAN is ready.
T-Mobile this Saturday has issued a warning to all Sidekick owners that their online data may have been permanently lost by Danger and its parent company Microsoft. In a note to customers, the carrier says the likelihood of recovering contacts, calendars and other information taken offline by a more than week-long outage is "extremely low" due to an assessment of the server failure. Customers may lose all their information if they have to reset their sidekicks or deprive them of power, according to the note.
Microsoft's Pink phone project may be on the verge of falling apart even before its first product ships, according to a controversial set of leaks supposedly confirmed today. Backing a scoop from earlier in the week, a source for AppleInsider says Microsoft has poorly managed the project and squandered the acquisition of Sidekick creator Danger from 2008. Rather than implement Danger's advice, the larger company has watched the majority of the team either fired or leave in frustration as the majority of their advice is ignored.
A handful of images have leaked of what are widely believed to be the first Microsoft-branded phones. The renderings slipped out by Gizmodo appear to confirm the Turtle, a vertical QWERTY slider that also appears to have a touchscreen, as well as the Pure, a more conventional touchscreen with a side-sliding keyboard. Both have a very rounded design influenced by Sidekick creator Danger, which Microsoft bought out last year, and an interface mockup that borrows heavily from the visual style of the Zune HD.
T-Mobile on Tuesday announced it has made a new Sidekick Sync application for its Sidekick LX handset, which would now support real time push e-mail, let users view attachments in said e-mails. Now available via the Download Catalog, the application will also synchronize its phonebook with a corporate directory, as well as full sync support via an Exchange calendar and its meeting and event reminders.
Microsoft has picked the ad firm that will represent its "Pink" smartphone interface, sources said Wednesday. AdWeek hears that a contract bid has been won by McCann Erickson's TAG group, trumping others. The leak doesn't include any details of what "Pink" involves but adds that McCann already handles advertising for Windows Mobile, supporting the phone connection.
The use of the iPhone online has accelerated to where it's now outranking Symbian in terms of sheer traffic, AdMob's March 2009 metrics report shows. Tracking access worldwide based on ad requests, the firm says OS X iPhone grew to represent 38 percent of smartphone traffic and just slightly edged out all Symbian phones, which have fallen to 37 percent. Both are sharp changes from February, when Symbian held a comfortable lead at 43 percent while the iPhone had just crossed the 33 percent mark.
T-Mobile this morning finally confirmed the existence of its 2009 update to the Sidekick LX. The new model is the first ever to support 3G and draws on HSPA to allow both faster web browsing as well as to enable video streaming directly through the browser as well as Internet radio and video uploading. GPS is also new and exploits Danger's connection to Microsoft to let users search for nearby locations (including fuel and movies) using Live Search.
T-Mobile at mid-day announced a special event for April 21st in New York City. The company provides no other details and, unlike previous invitations, doesn't hint as to the general direction of the gathering. The last event held by the company in this manner was in September of last year, when the company introduced the G1 as the world's first Android phone.
A new handset built by Sharp has shown up for testing on the FCC website and is expected to be the previously leaked 2009 Sidekick LX. Other hints that point to this include the Danger logo being present on the FCC label, and the device's support of the 1,700MHz AWS spectrum, or the same band T-Mobile uses for its 3G network. T-Mobile is the carrier of previous Sidekick models.
T-Mobile's next-gen Sidekick is now being claimed as real and has received additional details. Now referred to as just the Sidekick 2009, the messaging phone is described by an anonymous source for Hiptop3 as having a "more grown up," upscale feel and should have a new version 5.0 of Danger's Sidekick operating system. A set of lights along the top edge of the display contribute to the phone's effect, while the keys are closer to being flush and are flat rather than curved.
Danger and its hardware partners may be preparing a major update to the Sidekick LX that turns it into an advanced media and social networking device, a survey given to a Hiptop3 reader suggests. When asked about smartphones, the reader says she was reportedly presented with an image that shows an Sidekick LX 2009 that centers on an unusually sharp, 854x480 3.2-inch display. It would also have other hardware firsts for Sidekicks, including 3G data, GPS with turn-by-turn navigation and a 3.2-megapixel camera with both flash and video capture.
Microsoft is in the later stages of developing a phone of its own that will rely on performance to drive sales, a rumor floated by the Inquirer today claims. The Windows Mobile developer is allegedly developing a phone that would use one of NVIDIA's Tegra processors as its heart. The feature would likely involve the APX 2500 chip and theoretically give the Microsoft device 720p video playback and advanced 3D visuals that are absent on other phones.
T-Mobile's upcoming Android phone has been spotted today courtesy of a blog entry from someone with access to the phone ahead of the carrier's official debut on the 23rd. Previously only shown in a handful of indoor shots, the G1 is again an exact match for prototypes Google has used to demonstrate the phone and is described by the Google worker using the phone as the production version of the HTC Dream. The phone revolves around its touchscreen but opens as with a Sidekick to expose a full keyboard.
T-Mobile's previously rumored self-run app store has been confirmed by the company at the CTIA expo but will be significantly more limited than either previous estimates or versus similar stores from Apple and Google. Company mobile product development chief Venetia Espinoza and devPartner Community Program head marketer Sue Schmitz explain that the software will initially rule out Android and Sidekick phones in a bid to simplify the rollout and see what works.
T-Mobile on Tuesday unveiled a new version of the Sidekick, and with it, a completely customizable shell design, which users can choose from a number of pre-designed colors and templates, or create their very own personalized device. Available by default in black or green, the Sidekick can be detailed with personal photos or graphic art, as well as a host of text, shapes, icons, and logos. Once the design is finalized, T-Mobile will ship the finished product to the customer, while the design remains online for others to view.
T-Mobile's Sidekick 2008 has already been unpacked just a day before its official release and had its pricing revealed through a leak at the TmoNews forums. The images confirm all the details slipped out previously, including the 2-megapixel camera, extra-wide LCD, and replaceable backplates that involve both art patterns as well as sports logos. Video recording is also known to be built-in.
Microsoft has held its first concrete meetings to design a Zune-branded cellphone, according to an unconfirmed but allegedly credible leak from jkOnTheRun. The device is well away from completion but is intended to use multi-touch input and would use a variant of Windows Mobile 7, Microsoft's first major overhaul to its smartphone platform since 2005. Windows Live services will be a major focus along with the Zune's emphasis on media playback.
T-Mobile's Sidekick 2008 now has a solid release date, says a new document leak through BGR. The rebranding of the Gekko has now been confirmed and should be introduced through T-Mobile on July 30th, likely replacing the normal Sidekick LX outside of the Tony Hawk Edition.
Further leaks of T-Mobile's Sidekick Gekko suggest the phone may be given a new name as well as much more varied customization than originally thought, Hiptop3 says. Reports passed along to the site suggest the device may be renamed the Sidekick 2008 when it launches soon, although the backs of the new devices simply read "Sidekick" and don't provide immediate clues as to any specific name. The messaging slider phone has also been codenamed the Aspen in earlier leaks.
One of the most prominent phone interface designers is now working for Palm for its next operating system, Engadget confirms in a hunt for new information. Matias Duarte, who designed much of the interface behind the Danger Sidekick and later moved on to Helio's custom interface, is now known through checks with sources and Palm itself to be a Senior Director in Palm's Human Interface and User Experience design group. The new executive quietly left his former post at Helio for the new position nearly two years ago in September 2007.
T-Mobile mid-Thursday updated its Sidekick messaging phones with its first limited edition of the current generation. The Sidekick LX Tony Hawk Edition both puts the pro skateboarder's look on all sides of the device, complete with blue, gray and white trim and his personal logo. It also includes functional upgrades, the carrier says: the back is given an easy-to-hold texture meant to resemble grip tape. The software is conspicuously different with a special Tony Hawk theme as well as a preloaded video and skateboard sounds when the screen swivels open.
A handful of leaked manual pages today has all but confirmed the existence of the Sidekick Gekko for T-Mobile. The discovery validates reports of basic details about the device, which includes an extra-wide LCD like that of the Sidekick LX, removable faceplates like the Sidekick iD, and a camera; the new details point to a two-megapixel camera instead of the 1.3-megapixel unit from some past versions of the messaging phone.
T-Mobile today opted for a weekend launch of the Sidekick Slide Scarlet, its first special variant of the Motorola-created messaging phone. The new model conspicuously changes the phone's trim from its original purple to a deeper red while keeping all of the features of the original: the Slide is still one of T-Mobile's smallest Sidekicks but offers the full feature set, including its 1.3-megapixel camera, EDGE Internet access, microSD storage up to 4GB, and dedicated AAC and MP3 playback.
T-Mobile's rumored Sidekick Gekko has already been spotted and had some of its details revealed courtesy of a leak from Hiptop3. Confirmed as a replacement for the Sidekick iD, the Gekko will have colored and likely replaceable faceplates but should represent a significant technical upgrade. It should include the same 400x240 wide display as the Sidekick LX and may match a number of the other features of the higher-end model, which include a 1.3-megapixel camera.
An upcoming T-Mobile Sidekick codenamed the Gekko is actually an advanced replacement for the basic Sidekick iD, says a reported leak from TmoNews. The messaging slider will see a major upgrade that adds a 2-megapixel camera with a video capture mode and will incorporate a unique video sharing feature, though the alleged source says its details are unknown. Proper web browsing will also be available and cover a perceived flaw with the iD, the tip adds.
T-Mobile's long-delayed 3G cellular Internet access will first be available as early as this week, says new information from BGR. The company's proprietary 1,700MHz service will reportedly become active on Thursday and should be available for subscribers in at least New York City; separate rumors also have the faster service available in Los Angeles and Miami in the near future. Other regional launches aren't yet known but should take place over coming months.
T-Mobile will carry two new Sidekick messaging phones this summer, according to an apparent leak from TmoNews. Danger and at least one of its partners will release a mystery device nicknamed the "Gekko" on July 27th; a second known as the "Aspen" will follow shortly afterwards on the 30th. Details of the devices are unknown, though the possibility exists that the phones will either be special editions of existing models with new artwork in addition to possible replacement models.
Microsoft today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Danger, bringing the Sidekick maker entirely into the larger company. Danger will now become a core component of the new Premium Mobile Experiences group at Microsoft and will be part of the Mobile Communications group inside of the Entertainment and Devices division. The freshly acquired company's founders now report directly to Roz Ho, corporate VP for the Premium Mobile Experiences group and former head of the Macintosh Business Unit.
T-Mobile's tentative steps to enter the Canadian market for cellphones may have been confirmed, according to a detailed tip sent to BGR. The carrier has reportedly received government approval to start its service in 2009 and would run at least a trial service until 2010 that would offer all the normal calling, data, and roaming services expected of most providers. It would also bring many of the phones used by its American cousin, including HTC-made devices such as the Shadow as well as the SideKick line.
Microsoft's acquisition of Danger is worth approximately a half billion dollars, according to a source speaking with Om Malik about the deal. While Microsoft has remained secretive about the financial terms of the buyout, the company is now believed to have spent as much as $500 million to purchase the designer behind the Sidekick and its software. The tipster does not explain why Microsoft had been willing to make the high offer, which is unusual for acquiring a firm that does not manufacture its own hardware.
Microsoft today revealed that it was acquiring Danger Inc., triggering a shift in the mobile phone business. The deal's terms have not been disclosed but will see the smaller firm, best known for the software powering Sidekick messaging phones, folded into the Entertainment and Services Division at Microsoft. The buyout will help Microsoft enter the "consumer space" for phones and will simultaneously let Danger expand its partnerships to other companies. Neither firm has said when they expect the deal to be approved by US officials.
The Sidekick Slide is now back on sale from T-Mobile. The company's prominent messaging phone was pulled from shelves around the middle of November, due to sudden rebooting caused by sliding the screen; this later turned out to be caused by poor battery contacts, and prompted the company to ask owners to return or replace their Slides while the problem was being fixed. The product is now back in production and can be had for a $300 list price, or $200 after various discounts.
