Microsoft buys Danger, Windows Mobile Sidekick imminent

Sure, the folks in Redmond didn't get their grubby mitts on Yahoo! (yet), but at least they picked up a little something for their mobile division, namely: Danger. According to news just crossing the wires, the monolithic company has picked up the Sidekick-creators for an undisclosed amount, and will subsequently fold the phone-maker into its mobile wing. Is there a Windows Mobile version of the Hiptop in our future? Survey says yes.

[AdamY @ Feb 11th 2008 10:50AM]

Boo.

It's always sad to watch the machine gobble up more and more creative enterprises. I always thought Danger did a good job of design and marketing, at least to the consumer crowd (though they never got their prices to the "sweet" spot), it'll be a shame that they become another arm of MS.

Say it ain't so Danger. Yahoo! did it, you can too!

[Dave @ Feb 11th 2008 10:53AM]

nice, now we will have a smartphone with a shitty build AND OS! great.

[AdamY @ Feb 11th 2008 10:50AM]

Boo.

It's always sad to watch the machine gobble up more and more creative enterprises. I always thought Danger did a good job of design and marketing, at least to the consumer crowd (though they never got their prices to the "sweet" spot), it'll be a shame that they become another arm of MS.

Say it ain't so Danger. Yahoo! did it, you can too!

[mschaffer @ Feb 11th 2008 11:40AM]

The Yahoo! deal isn't a "done deal" yet.

[Longhorn @ Feb 11th 2008 10:50AM]

YES!

I love Windows Mobile.
Call me crazy.

[OneLove @ Feb 11th 2008 10:57AM]

me too. I just wish I could install in like an other os and remove some sprint crap.

[CB17 @ Feb 11th 2008 11:22AM]

Crazy.

[Joel Rose @ Feb 11th 2008 11:36AM]

Crazy. I've had 2 devices with Window's Mobile and hated the UI and they way it handles memory. I'm on my 3rd sidekick and I'll admit that it's FAR from perfect- I like the simplicity of the UI and overall ease of use. I don't know- combining two companies responsible for problematic devices... I don't think anything good can come from this- but we'll see.

[Jamaicanbwoydre @ Feb 11th 2008 10:52AM]

Imma go with the obvious here: DANGER WILL ROB YOU SON, DANGER!!!!!

[Mo @ Feb 11th 2008 10:54AM]

I guess Microsoft loves Black ppl

[Joel Stephen @ Feb 11th 2008 10:58AM]

LMAO so funny and so true haha my cousin was wishin it had more functions and multimedia capabilities looks like it will soon to bad it will be at a high price

[OneLove @ Feb 11th 2008 10:58AM]

and?

[Mo Kim @ Feb 11th 2008 11:03AM]

high Price? sidekicks are in the $400 range and have the worst cameras out on the market. the platform for the ergonomics is unbeatable, but it lacks functions

[gerbick @ Feb 11th 2008 11:54AM]

Sorta odd that you'd say that when it was Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan and a whole bunch of "that group" had their phones before everybody else when the Sidekick 3 came out... weird comment dude.

[Chewedtoothpick @ Feb 11th 2008 10:55AM]

Now that more and more companies are offering the unequaled usability and compatibility of WM and the soon-to-be Android, maybe I can finally find the just-right phone.

[Chebwa @ Feb 11th 2008 10:55AM]

Looks like cell phone users under the age of 15 can get their Windows fix now. : )

[Bob S. @ Feb 11th 2008 11:10AM]

Geez, you and Mo with the stereotyping.

The Sidekick's got the only five-row keyboard on a smart phone. It's also got a robust ssh client (albeit a $10 addon). That makes for happy sysadmins. Beyond that, while I'm not claiming the platform's the ideal, I'm happy that the OS and bundled apps focus so perfectly on Internet functionality. If I wanted a great cellphone camera and music player on a mediocre cellphone with the world's worst keyboard, I'd get an iPhone.

[Chebwa @ Feb 11th 2008 11:24AM]

Okay... it's not that I think the Sidekick is a lousy product. It actually really is a solid little phone with a decent interface (especially its version of AIM). But the little "fliparound" screen (the Slide, I suppose, isn't as bad) and just simply the sheer VOLUME of teenage hipsters running around with them makes it hard not to stereotype.

A good product, maybe. But can make you look a little unprofessional? Definitely.

[sinai @ Feb 11th 2008 12:49PM]

so they put in a little feature 15 year old girls like. apple does it all the time.

[Bob S. @ Feb 11th 2008 2:09PM]

Actually, the trackball bothers me more than the screen (I liked the scroll wheel *much* better); I think the swivel screen is one of the secrets of the Sidekick's ergonomic success. Plenty of smartphones have hinged screens as large and heavy as the keyboard. That's awkward and uncomfortable at best. The center of gravity needs to be within the keyboard for any kind of serious typing.

Honestly, the Sidekick LX really is the ideal Internet-enabled smartphone from a design standpoint; I have a hard time taking three- and four-line keyboards like the BlackBerry's seriously. The impositions that Danger and T-Mobile put on the platform, unfortunately, hobble it. But given the tradeoffs and compromises, I'm happy to help make the Sidekick that much less cool by using it constantly.

[xbit @ Feb 11th 2008 2:56PM]

"The Sidekick's got the only five-row keyboard on a smart phone."

Nokia disagrees with you...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Nokia-e90.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Nokia_e70_auki.jpg

[Bob S. @ Feb 11th 2008 9:46PM]

My bad. Let's change it to "The Sidekick's got the only five-line keyboard that isn't ludicrous or just sad on a smartphone."

I don't indulge, myself, but for the sake of people who do, I hope the weed that inspired the E70's "keyboard" makes it to these shores.

[JPN @ Feb 11th 2008 10:56AM]

Ugh. One of the things I LOVE about my Sidekick is that it's NOT Windows Mobile, having just used that for a year and a half.

[Kris @ Feb 11th 2008 12:27PM]

I had a Sidekick for a long time... Unfortunately, you have it backwards. While Windows Mobile is craptastic in its own ways, the Sidekick OS is _far_ worse.

I remember when I first owned my Hiptop. I was constantly submitting bugs... until I eventually gave up. There were just too many and the fact that they crippled the phone for developers royally pissed me off.

[JPN @ Feb 11th 2008 1:26PM]

Kris, all I can tell you is, after 1.5 years with Winmo and .25 with Sidekick, I've had NO bugs on the Sidekick and it's so much quicker to move around.

I found Windows Mobile to be incredibly slow, bloated, difficult to navigate, and overly complicated. Perhaps it wasn't a right fit for me; I'm not a PDA poweruser - however, it was still slow and tough to move around quickly.

[Rick @ Feb 11th 2008 1:29PM]

Realizing they make crap, Microsoft has concluded the only way to produce decent products is to buy a company that does it right?

[Joel Stephen @ Feb 11th 2008 11:10AM]

I meant that figurativly as in the sidekick will now be plagued with the woes of WinMo...I personally think the sidekick is not worth the price it cost at all and is for the most part useless but thats just me and it serves its target audience well

[chrisaroz @ Feb 11th 2008 11:05AM]

I think a lot of people are missing a big part of the equation here... Microsoft is now a Phone Hardware MANUFACTURER. They just got themselves into the game in a much bigger way it seems to me.

[Mystic @ Feb 11th 2008 11:09AM]

Um what? Danger was always about the software.

[Mo Kim @ Feb 11th 2008 11:13AM]

Danger never made the phone.

It was always made by Sharp. and on the slide by motorola

[Longhorn @ Feb 11th 2008 11:14AM]

Sidekicks were manufactured by Sharp and Motorola, man.
Danger just did the software.

[bachviet @ Feb 11th 2008 11:23AM]

SK's have always been manufactured by Sharp until now. Motorola also manufacture SK's for T-Mobile.

[Bob S. @ Feb 11th 2008 11:23AM]

Well, Danger isn't a hardware manufacturer, but it does design the Sidekick hardware. That's its strength; like Apple, the hardware's designed to accommodate the software and vice versa.

[MMGuru @ Feb 11th 2008 1:07PM]

Nope, Danger doesn't design the hardware, hasn't for a long time. SW only folks.

[chrisaroz @ Feb 11th 2008 1:02PM]

Then again I've been wrong before. Thanks for the clarification everyone!

[VedicHymn @ Feb 11th 2008 11:07AM]

Seems like a weird purchase, I guess we'll see where this one goes.

[Sean @ Feb 11th 2008 11:10AM]

I guess they can no longer deny any interest in making a Zune phone.

[Frankenstein Black @ Feb 11th 2008 11:48AM]

Yes, THE ZUNE PHONE COMETH! Run and tremble in fear iPhone, run and tremble in fear ;^)...

[Grizz @ Feb 11th 2008 11:16AM]

Dead Link. MS pull the news?

[RYANGUBE @ Feb 11th 2008 11:18AM]

@chrisaroz:
I thought that danger made the software. The likes of Phillips and recently Moto (slide) were the hardware manufacturers.

[jamma @ Feb 11th 2008 11:18AM]

All of a sudden Microsoft have gone back to buying anything and everything, and now when I go onto engadget mobile, I get a big AOL ad that doesn't go away for at least a minute.

It's the 90s again! My time machine worked!

[gb @ Feb 11th 2008 5:37PM]

try using adblock plus

[Donte @ Feb 12th 2008 7:31PM]

Mo
-"I gues Microsoft loves black people"

WTF was that comment suppose to mean. That made no sense, and had nothing to do with the article.

[Marcus @ Feb 11th 2008 11:28AM]

This is outta nowhere. I feel like this isn't going to go in the right direction for Danger. I have a Sidekick LX, and one of the key features is the OS. Putting WM on the next installments of the kickster just doesn't scream "buy me"--well, at least not to me. I've always been a fan (and owner) of the sidekick line, and I was looking forward to what Danger was (is?) going to come out with. Actually, I'm not really sure what to think of this, yet. I guess we'll have to see. It may not matter, anyway, since Sidekicks are targeted to the younger audiences who'll use them, regardless of what (possibly hideous, maybe new) OS it uses. You know, 'cause it's the cool phone. I'm 17, by the way.

[Mike @ Feb 11th 2008 11:35AM]

While I am worried Microsoft will screw this thing up, it *COULD* work out well if M$ does the following:

1) Reduces the profile of the Sidekick to be less brick-like
2) Skin Windows Mobile to be more consumer friendly. Perhaps a Zune-line interface?
3) Touch screen?
4) Add Zune functionality

A corporate version of the Sidekick could be a real winner if Microsoft plays their cards right, but what are the odds of that?

[John @ Feb 11th 2008 12:11PM]

Sidekick 4 - aka Zune phone

[Sam @ Feb 11th 2008 11:33AM]

On Microsoft's grocery list:
Yahoo
Motorola
Apple
Comcast
Tribune Co.
Johnson & Johnson
The US Government
The United Nations
Pluto

[Chebwa @ Feb 11th 2008 12:23PM]

Pluto isn't even a planet now. Far too pathetic for Microsoft.

I'd peg them for a Jupiter purchase.

[mschaffer @ Feb 11th 2008 11:38AM]

So, is "Danger" going to be Bill's middle name?

[oshean @ Feb 11th 2008 2:54PM]

According to Eric Schmidt, it's butthead.

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/technology/02/11/0211schmidt.html