Paris Hilton's hacked Sidekick means higher sales for T-Mobile
By Peter Rojas 
posted March 1st 2005 10:24AM
posted March 1st 2005 10:24AM
You'd think that Paris Hilton's Sidekick (or, well, at
least the online data from her Sidekick) getting hacked would equal disaster for both T-Mobile and
Danger (the company that
builds the handset), but you'd be wrong. Or at least you'd be wrong according to the New York Post, which is reporting
that sales of the Sidekick in New York City have been zooming in the week since all this happened. Dude, where do you
even start with this one?
[Via TechDirt]
The sales are probably increasing because stupid people might be thinking that if they get a sidekick2 they will be able to see Paris Hiltons pics with it.
DoH!
No I think it is the "cool" mentality. Majority of the population don't know that Paris Hilton has got a Sidekick. However, once all the posers and wannabes realised that their idol has got a Sidekick, their are yelling with their brat-ish lungs to their rich parents to get them one.
No offence intended.
I love Sidekick 2, it's da best!
Oh? Is that how people decide to get Sidekick to see Paris Hilton??? Make no SENSE!!!!
By the way.. buy Treo 650, rich fellows.
This outcome should not be surprising to anyone with a basic understanding of human psychology. Familiarity affects sales and impression more than any other single factor. (This is why "there is no such thing as bad publicity"). For example, when there's lots of news about NASA and Mars, the sales of Mars Bars go way up.
I guess there's a latent demand for consumer-grade, non-secure platforms that are used and misused by vacuous celebrities. The lure of celebrity exceeds even the common sense that supposedly drives technology decisions. At some point, fashion wins it all, and that seems to be happening here.
Carmi
http://writteninc.blogspot.com
Age old wisdom:
No such thing as bad publicity.
and sidekicks rock. Tmob sux
This shows why there is an "American Idiot" song out there...
there is no bad publicity indeed, and how many people were introduce to the sidekick's features thanks to paris? oh hush, hackable is not a feature. yet. ;)
Maybe it'll help Fred Durst with his non-existant career - or not!
Gillian
Just goes to show that there's no bad publicity, or maybe it's just the Paris Hilton Effect...
Does it come with Paris Hilton's addressbook preinstalled? Some 'screen savers' ala Paris?
Get one !!!
Now!!
Only in New York!!
the people that bought sidekicks because of this publicity probably voted for bush, too.
stupid, stupid country we live in.
1. Note how quickly everyone distanced themselves from the Durst thing. Not even T-Mobile will touch him with a 10-ft. cattle prod. I think he's using a Boost phone...
2. As they said in MIB: *people* are stupid. No one understood the Mac in 1984 (do they get it now?). Anybody see prime time TV these days? Lotsa intelligent discourse there, I tells ya.
If security mattered to the average idiot, would Microsoft even be in business?
Truth is, it was great publicity from a features viewpoint. How many non-geeks do you know that have souped-up phones (or even "normal" ones) with address books, calendars, etc. and NEVER USE THEM. Now they know.
Control-S people, always control-s!!!
"the people that bought sidekicks because of this publicity probably voted for bush, too.
stupid, stupid country we live in."
So, are you going out on a limb and saying it's a bad product-do you even know? The product has nothing to do with this. It wasn't hacked-her account was hacked via T-Mobile's database. T-Mobile let them in the front door and right into the hiptop service. No other hiptop carrier has this problem.
huh? But it's so trendy and hip to get a sidekick and put my nude pictures on my cell phone and like get it hacked. like oh my gosh! that's so hot!
"stupid, stupid country we live in."
There are certainly stupid people in this country (droves and droves of them actually), but this entire Paris-Hilton-Get's-Hacked-
T-Mobile-Gets-Paid-and-Danger-Makes-Money situation may not purely be an example of stupidity.
It sounds stupid for drug dealers to give away free drugs, they make NO MONEY off those doses, right ? Right ! Until they stop giving it away for free and force the people they've addicted to pay for something they can't stop buying.
Just an example of something 'stupid' in the present that is actually quite shrewd in the long run.
This Paris Hilton 'thing' may be an example of such shrewdness. After all, Sidekicks sales are up (if you trust NYT) and Paris is back in the news.
Do you think that's accidental ?
Maybe...maybe not...
If it's not (and truth to be told we'll probably never be able to prove it one way or the other) then someone, dare I say it, probably calculated the entire scandal out beforehand, and it's paying off.
I'm mean you'd think she would learn her leason after having her electronic uhm...'intelectual' (and I do use the term lightly) property released on the internet once before...
And maybe...just maybe...she did...
(Or at least her agent(s) did, I don't know...)
Quothe 'Quint' when hunting everyones favorite shark:
"I don't know if he's very smart or very dumb..."
Is this a conspiracy theory ? Heck no! The issue is of far too little importance to be a conspiracy in my book. I just like to point out the man behind the curtain whenever (I think) I see him.
And I'm not the first to suggest it on this issue either...
Whoops! That should be NYP for New York Post.
My mistake...no slander intended...
Maybe this surge in demand for a sidekick will make the other carriers (such as cingular) bring down the prices on their phones (such as the s710a)...
South Park hit the nail on the head when they made fun of Paris for being a stupid spoiled wh0re...
"So, are you going out on a limb and saying it's a bad product-do you even know? The product has nothing to do with this."
agreed. the product had nothing to do with the hack. paris' stupidity(which mirrors that of the general populous of this country) did.
and i've owned 2 B&W sidekicks, and 2 color sidekicks. they suck. my OS hangs once every few days, and the click-wheel stops working after 6 months. and mine was not an isolated case, my rooamte went through an almost identical rotation. i love the concept of the hoptop, but the sidekick sucks.
As far as a soon-to-be SidekickII owner, I can say that....
People are buying it because it serves as a PDA organizer as well as a way to actually cruize the web (not web clips) and check internet business email in a phone for HALF THE PRICE of a normal pda phone via pocketpc or palm...
It's a good unit...much better than the first...it was just unfortunate that an idiot like Hilton used such a simple password that a 16 yr old hacker figured it out.
T
...
...so I've had my sidekick II for about a month now. Anyone who complains about it either does not know how to use it, or just likes to complain.
The phone functions perfectly...much better reception than other phones I've had ranging from nokias to samsungs...the speakerphone is a very nice option. The ring has a very nice volume range and the vibration works like crazy.
The PDA function is great...especially the web interface...the ablility to input information via the unit itself as well as input over any computer online.
Cruizing the web on a full web browser is nice as well. Although not fast, it's nice to have a full browser instead of seeing 'web clippings'...
Overall I think it's a great phone...I wouldn't change a thing. Yes...it feels like I brick next to my ear, but then again if it was smaller, the screen would be smaller as well...so overall I thing they have a winner.
Tre'
www.photographictendencies.com