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T-Mobile will no longer sell the Sidekick LX or Sidekick 2008 – not at T-Mobile stores, or retail stores or online.
Currently a Sidekick owner? No worries, the carrier said in a statement July 2. “While we work on the next chapter of our storied Sidekick franchise, T-Mobile will continue to provide our loyal Sidekick customers with product service and support.”
The T-Mobile-branded handsets – originally made by Danger, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2008 – began selling six years ago and featured a somehow-consistently-fun display that, when nudged, swung down and up and over, to reveal and sit atop a full QWERTY kepad.
The Sidekick was at first synonymous with Paris Hilton – an early user – and later being hacked into, again in regard to Hilton.
In October 2009, the brand suffered another blow after a server issue caused users’ personal data to be wiped from nearly 800,000 Sidekicks. While many expected T-Mobile to suspend sales of the devices at that point, on Nov. 17, 2009, it instead announced new pricing for the Sidekick LX 2009 and Sidekick 2008. Customers were also offered the conciliatory gesture of a $100 T-Mobile gift card and a month of free data service.
More recently, Microsoft’s Danger team has reportedly had its attentions focused on Microsoft’s Kin lineup of handsets – which like the Sidekick were geared toward teens and heavy social networkers. On June 30, however, Microsoft announced that it plans to integrate its Kin team with its Windows Phone 7 team, and put all of its energies into the latter.
In Windows Phone 7, Microsoft hopes to have a brand compelling enough to compete with the Apple iPhone 4 and the only-growing number of handsets running Google’s Android OS.
The T-Mobile site, following its no-more-Sidekicks message, pointed interested consumers instead to its myTouch 3G, or the Motorola Cliq XT. Both of which run the Android OS.