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Topic: Microsoft

T-Mobile halts sales of Sidekick

Summary: T-Mobile USA has, at least temporarily, stopped selling all models of the Sidekick in the wake of a massive hardware failure that resulted in many customers losing their e-mail, contacts, and other data.

Ina Fried

By Ina Fried |

Wireless carrier T-Mobile USA has, at least temporarily, stopped selling all models of the Sidekick in the wake of a massive hardware failure that resulted in many customers losing their e-mail, contacts, and other data.

As of Sunday, all models of the Sidekick were listed as "temporarily out of stock" on T-Mobile's Web site. T-Mobile retail store workers also said on Monday that they have been instructed to halt new sales of the device as the company continues to investigate the recent problems that have plagued the handheld.

To recap, Sidekick customers started experiencing problems connecting to the data network more than a week ago. Microsoft, whose Danger subsidiary powers the Sidekick service, said it was investigating the problems.

On Saturday, Microsoft and T-Mobile posted an updated notice saying all ">data that was not currently on customers devices was likely lost permanently.

Read more on "T-Mobile halts sales of Sidekick" from CNET News.

Topics: Microsoft, Collaboration, Enterprise Software, Mobility

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7 comments
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  • This is as good a time to drop the Sidekick entirely

    Now that there are Android and even Windows Mobile phones that cost just as much or less than the Sidekick, I don't know why you'd need such an inferior product on your inventory.
    Michael Kelly
    Reply Vote

    • I agree...

      ...especially since it looks like the T-mobile Pulse will be a free Android phone. I just don't see the point of these rather fake smartphones now.
      storm14k
      Reply Vote

  • Google may have outages, but at least they haven't trashed your data (NT)

    (NT)
    Basic Logic
    Reply Vote

    • Google might -

      Theres a first time for everything!!!!! Knock on wood this hasn't happened yet.
      Byterat
      Reply Vote

    • Get Real! This is just a mere warning 4 what Cloud computing will bring

      I've worked in the mobile area since it was born and if there's one thing I've seen it's that local control of ones' data is paramount.

      Yes, ubiquitous access is nice. It's great to hop on a wifi connection or even a 3G network and be able to see info but let's face it - networks fail.

      The real killer is that many people buy slick devices but never look at how that data is persisted on the device. Perhaps we all assume that they're all like the original Palm Pilot where everything is stored in flash ram.

      All I can say is that whatever solutions you look at going forward (both personal and corporate) consider how much better life would be if your data were also replicated to a place you have control over on a regular basis.

      If companies like google had any brains, the solution wouldn't be "in the clouds" it would be in a constant flow between clouds and ponds
      (your home PC or laptop). Nothing new, just the data sync that's been going on for some ppl over the last 10+ years. I strongly believe that this will be the next frontier.



      Just a thought.

      - WG
      wirelessguyNY
      Reply Vote

  • RE: T-Mobile halts sales of Sidekick

    Ah there is happiness that I got rid of the Sidekick when I
    grew up (about the same time I got rid of my myspace) and
    moved to a phone that not only backs up to the cloud, but
    to my computer as well.
    Unless I happen to lose my computer, the computer cloud
    backup, the home backup, the phone cloud backup, and
    the phone I think I'm okay. I am backup crazy.

    Then again one good EMP and all are gone, but luckily I'll
    have more to worry about at that point.
    Amonra
    Reply Vote

  • RE: T-Mobile halts sales of Sidekick

    Microsoft believes that they have a right to damage the operating system of any computer user if they suspect it is not a legal copy of Windows. That has led to millions having their computers turned off without notice more than one time.

    This is yet another example of Microsoft's arrogance! They seem to be doing the same with their phones.
    This type of thing is the reason I never use Microsoft products!

    Mark Heinemann
    as901
    Reply Vote
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