Microsoft said to have dropped $500 million on Danger

While Microsoft was doing little to hide how much it was willing to spend on Yahoo!, the company's been decidedly more coy about exactly how much it dropped to pick up Sidekick-maker Danger earlier this week. The ever-dependable Om Malik now claims to have turned up a figure, however, and while it pales compared to that Yahoo! offer, it's still quite a doozy. According to Om, a "fairly solid source" informed him that Microsoft parted with a full $500 million to bring Danger into its fold, with later-stage investors in Danger the biggest beneficiaries of that payday. What's more, that hefty price also got Om speculating that Microsoft may be about to "pull an Xbox" with its cellphone business, fearing that its current approach would relegate it to the business market -- a pretty safe assumption, if you ask us.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Feb 12th 2008 4:43PM]

How much was the bid for yahoo again!?!?!!?

[Dave @ Feb 12th 2008 5:07PM]

gee maybe now i can have a microsoft-based cellphone that doesnt have an ugly/slow/shitty interface

[Bob @ Feb 12th 2008 5:37PM]

A better question is does this now make Danger Microsoft's middle name?

[Ellianth @ Feb 12th 2008 6:16PM]

So why do they want danger again?

[Josh @ Feb 12th 2008 4:46PM]

Zune phone anyone???

[Student Driver @ Feb 12th 2008 4:48PM]

Maybe closer to Xbox Phone; music, communications, AND gaming. That could be cool. This would a better tie-in with the Live! gaming integration with PC, console, and mobile.

[Josh @ Feb 12th 2008 5:00PM]

Eh -- probably true. However, as much as Microsoft says they are dedicated to the 'Windows Mobile' platform and won't be giving that up anytime soon - they did say that same thing about "Plays For Sure" and we all know we now have Zune and Plays For Sure formats. Whatever it is - I'm sure it will intergrate with Xbox and the Windows enviroment. I think Windows Mobile will stay around - because they license it and its still needed in corporate enviroments -- but I think they will create another brand (or use an existing brand) on the Sidekicks. It may be a Windows Mobile, XBox gaming phone - and the MP3/Music Portion have Zune intergration. A convergence of all 3 devices into one...hmmmmm...interesting indeed

[Sam Zebian @ Feb 12th 2008 5:02PM]

It probably wouldn't be called the Zunephone or the Xboxphone, it would probably have a unique name, somehow revolutionalize the industry like the Zune and the Xbox has, and then will become a dominant product in terms of cell phones. I really hope they make a phone, it runs windows mobile and has a full qwerty keyboard with a nice set of features (like as many as the Sony experia). Hopefully they do something new, like how the Zune was one of the first Mp3 players to do something with Wi-Fi or the Xbox to be one of the first gaming consoles to do so much more than gaming and also have the great backbone of a network that we know of as Xbox live, maybe this phone will have the features of a Zune and Xbox combined with a phone, but I doubt it will be called Zunephone or Xboxphone. Also, I think the product's name will start with a Y. Why do I think this???

V for Vista, W for Windows, X for Xbox, Y is not used for any major products and Z is for Zune.

So because many of their recent product names have been in the end of the alphabet, I think it'll start with a Y. It's just a guess though, so don't start coming up with rumors of the Yellophone or the Yphone. LOL, I just realized Yphone rhymes with Iphone.

[telepheedian @ Feb 12th 2008 5:02PM]

Zune would be a better brand though, portable devices.

[CraigJ @ Feb 12th 2008 5:25PM]

@Sam. You didn't seriously say "somehow revolutionalize the industry like the Zune" did you? I'm not going to bash the Zune, but revolutionary it's not.

[Curtis the Claw Game Master @ Feb 12th 2008 6:02PM]

@ Sam

You do realize that any word that ends with "phone" will rhyme with iPhone right?

[Junior @ Feb 12th 2008 9:12PM]

the Y could be used for Yahoo.

[Greg Ramsaran @ Feb 12th 2008 10:10PM]

zPhone

[michael @ Feb 13th 2008 3:11AM]

@Josh: To be fair about the PlayForSure comparison you made, I think coming out with the Zune was better than nothing.

It seemed like all of Microsoft PlayForSure partners (both online stores and devices) just weren't producing anything compelling or interesting enough over the iPod. So if MS didn't step in at that time, it would have been far longer to catch-up with the iPod then.

Honestly, would you really 'want' to use any of the PlayForSure platform stuff? Even before the Zune? I don't think so. The idea was interesting at first (any song there works on many supported devices - though by DRM) but the product and stores themselves just weren't cool enough.

MS could have been smarter, and let Zune Marketplace and Zune device work with WMP, so that at least Zune MP was PlayForSure, and tracks bought there were guaranteed to work for the Zune, but oh well.

I like the Zune 2. I don't think many other devices besides the iPod gets this many accessories and attention.

[sinai @ Feb 12th 2008 4:44PM]

too much for a company whose next product was gonna be identical to the one released 5 years ago.

[yoyodude64 @ Feb 12th 2008 4:47PM]

i could be wrong...but i was under the impression that danger wasnt actually profitable yet.

[Bassir @ Feb 12th 2008 4:50PM]

The Sidekick sucks.

[CraigJ @ Feb 12th 2008 4:58PM]

how can any product endorsed by the likes of Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg and Lindsay Lohan suck? Oh, wait...

[Sam Zebian @ Feb 12th 2008 5:04PM]

LOL, the sidekick isn't that bad. It definitely has room for improvement, and Microsoft surely can fix that. It' not like the cheap crap Motorola has been making lately.

[fahnboi @ Feb 12th 2008 5:37PM]

hey that reminds me, remember when Snoop won something on the MTV awards a couple years ago and he answered that his charity of choice was his urban football team or whatever; the majority of proceeds which went to making a pimpmobile HDTV bus for his son? yeah.

[Bob S. @ Feb 12th 2008 6:13PM]

It must be true! Someone said so in a comment on the Internet!

[CraigJ @ Feb 12th 2008 4:57PM]

say what you want about the iPhone, but Apple seems to have shaken things up quite a bit.

[Ellianth @ Feb 12th 2008 6:18PM]

...right.

[CraigJ @ Feb 12th 2008 6:29PM]

@ Ellianth. Please elaborate. do you agree or disagree? You must admit that Microsoft didn't seem al that interested in creating their own phone until all the hype around the iPhone happened (likewise the Zune/iPod). Look at Nokia's response to the iPhone: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/29/nokias-iphone-no-seriously/

You may or may not appreciate the iPhone, but the impact it has had on the mobile phone market is definitely evident.

[nickfawwaz3 @ Feb 12th 2008 7:26PM]

I hate touch screens, my fingers get in the way of the stuff. iPhones were always just a big gimmick to me. I own a mac so my opinion is valid.

[CraigJ @ Feb 12th 2008 7:33PM]

@nick. so you don't like the iPhone. That's nice but not the point. Do you deny that the iPhone has had an impact on the mobile phone industry?

[L. M. Lloyd @ Feb 12th 2008 7:55PM]

No, see this is the common problem Apple supporters make. There have been touchscreen phones for years from companies like Handspring, Kyocera, Palm, HTC and so forth. Apple fans just ignored that market segment until Apple entered it, and then all of a sudden noticed all these touchscreen phones and declared "look, everyone is following Apple's lead." It isn't that they weren't there before, and it isn't that people are now making them because of the iPhone. If anything it is the exact opposite. Apple is riding the ascendancy of the popularity of PDA form factor phones with their iPhone, and following the trend that has been moving in the industry since before they even entered it.

Oh, and by the way, Microsoft designed their own phone reference design years ago, and it was called Stinger. They flirted briefly with the idea of actually selling it as a Microsoft product, but decided to go the normal Microsoft route of trying to license it instead, but no one was interested. So, no, it is not the iPhone that first gave Microsoft the idea of designing their own phone hardware.

[rxse7en @ Feb 12th 2008 5:07PM]

I'm thinking "Phune"

[Das @ Feb 12th 2008 5:10PM]

Well, I like my xbox and I like my zune so if they make a phone, I'm willing to give it a look. Zune integration is a must and live integration would be nice too. The price would have to be right though, I'm only willing to spend so much for a phone.

[Sam Zebian @ Feb 12th 2008 5:13PM]

If Microsoft's Phone (that they may/may not make) comes out and the name starts with a Y, let it be known I knew ahead of time the first letter just by guessing. If not, then this will sound like the stupidest comment I've posted yet, and you can feel free to flame me when the phone doesn't start with a Y.

If you don't understand this comment, you probably didn't read the one above my other one.

[Shannin @ Feb 12th 2008 5:16PM]

i loved my SK2, good job on the amazing buyout danger!

[FireWolf @ Feb 12th 2008 5:17PM]

I wouldn't be jumping up and down for joy over this. The Xbox 360 with the Red Ring of Death hasn't exactly inspired me to drop a boatload of cash down on it.

While I own a Zune (the 30gb model was hella cheap), I don't know that I'd be willing to buy a phone with mp3 storage.

Redundancy in multiple electronic devices blows.

[Carbonize @ Feb 13th 2008 3:52AM]

"I don't know that I'd be willing to buy a phone with mp3 storage."

That's pretty much every phone released these days.

[Todd @ Feb 12th 2008 5:18PM]

500 mill to get a ZUNE PHONE?!? Dang Ballmer, after taking such a bath on the Zune PMP I would have thought you'd be a little more frugal than that. No one wants a brown phone that can only call the same person three times before it deletes the phone number anyway, dude. Stick to making people miserable on their desktop.

[Warhorse @ Feb 12th 2008 5:52PM]

There is no place like home
there is no place like home
there is no place like home
...what do you mean i can't call that number again??

[drzeller @ Feb 12th 2008 5:18PM]

Sam Zebian: "V for Vista, W for Windows, X for Xbox, Y is not used for any major products and Z is for Zune."

This, of course, is why they were trying to buy Yahoo!

D.

[Sam Zebian @ Feb 12th 2008 5:24PM]

Lol, didn't realize that. Maybe they had to buy Danger as a second opportunity to use the letter in a product name (I hope I'm right)

[Tony @ Feb 12th 2008 6:47PM]

I don't think Vista and Windows should count as seperate products.

Nice observation to the both of you though.

[Myshkin @ Feb 12th 2008 5:20PM]

I think they should call it the Zhone.

[Sime @ Feb 12th 2008 5:25PM]

pull an xbox?

[VampireHunter Z @ Feb 12th 2008 5:36PM]

If this thing is a phone+game system that lets me pop a SIM card in and jump on Live then it's bye bye Sprint. Poker and Street Fighter II Live on the go FTW. Well at least I can dream.

[badqat @ Feb 12th 2008 8:57PM]

Sprint is the perfect example that something can suck and blow at the same time. I'm so happy to be rid of them!

[Glazun @ Feb 13th 2008 6:14AM]

I wonder if the Zune will ever make it to Europe.

[CanCar @ Feb 12th 2008 5:43PM]

Which is the preoccupation? if nobody is going to leave stroll with that amount of money. Maybe they would pay through a banking transference or with actions in another companies. kansasdepartmentofwildlifeandparks. net

[andy @ Feb 12th 2008 5:43PM]

Dang. Wouldn't it have been cheaper to just spec out whatever you wanted to HTC.


They could have just said, "Yeah, I want a Kaiser/tilt. But make it half as thick with no tilt and make it slide out on the proper side like it used to."

[Jeremy W @ Feb 12th 2008 10:31PM]

HTC makes hardware, Danger makes software.

[gf @ Feb 12th 2008 5:45PM]

is anyone in this thread actually authentic?

[Andir3.0 @ Feb 12th 2008 7:20PM]

Depends what you mean by "authentic"...

[Killer @ Feb 12th 2008 5:52PM]

That picture is still funny, even though its been used a couple times already.

[midicontrol206 @ Feb 12th 2008 5:58PM]

MS could just be insulating itself against Android. Danger has a proprietary OS. It would have eventually been sold to someone. MS just made sure it wasn't Google. As a value-add MS can port game and content services onto a new arm of the Windows Mobile tree.