It's truly remarkable to see almost every trace of a successful, well-established Valley start-up's work wiped out in the span of 24 hours, but here we are: T-Mobile's discontinuing the Sidekick line as of tomorrow, July 2, which effectively means that the
Sidekick LX 2009 will no longer be available. As a refresher, the latest Sidekick LX was the last product holistically engineered by Danger as it got shoehorned into Microsoft -- square peg in a round hole, as it were -- before repurposing the team to work on the just-killed
Kin line. In a way, it's a miracle that the LX ever went back on sale following the
nightmarish data issues they'd gone through last year, so we suppose it's a silver lining that they made it this far -- but still, it's sad to see Danger's years of design effectively vaporized without a trace like this. For what it's worth, T-Mobile says that it's working "on the next chapter of [its] storied Sidekick franchise" and to "stay tuned" for a "fresh" experience, but since T-Mobile owns the Sidekick brand (not Danger / Microsoft), we've got every reason to believe these new products will be based on Android considering the carrier's huge investment in its myTouch line. Adios, Sidekick -- we'll do one last screen flip in your honor.
posted July 1st 2010 3:49PM
Would anyone like a New York Bagel?
@N900 I'm pretty sure Michael Gartenberg would like one
@N900
you're trippen
being a sidekick user since the first one, i gotta say they where badass phones
rip
@N900
My Children are Home. I welcome them.
@dgtlber Yeah, I know. I'm not knocking them. You know a phone's good when it has longevity. Even when the HD2 was released, still saw people leaning towards the LX.
@dgtlber
were/where being the operative word/s
That's 2 species of Phone which I have killed this week. And it's only Thursday
@N900
Bagel drawf me!
On a serious note tho -- I gotta say I Think the sidekick is pretty damned cool looking...maybe it's just me who thinks that though.
@DoctarPeppar No, I did like the sidekick too.
I also actually liked the Kin phones as well. Even defended them at one point....Little did I know.
@N900 Microsoft just can win when it comes to phones.
I wonder how WP7 goes....
@clos1084 They half-assed it. The UI was so close, but they left out important features that the teens love, primarily a functioning Twitter and FB client.
WP7, now there's an OS they're putting their hard work into. Ironically, all of the GOOD things from the Kin are being assimilated into WP7, so I guess that's a plus.
@Lord Vader Now kill off Windows Phone 7 Series! >=D
@N900
and i'll take that delicious cup of coffee too ;-]
the removal of popular but low-profit margin phones may be a subtle sign of contraction of the entire telecom mobile industry consistent with the prediction of the rest of the economic outlook for the rest of the year and most likely well into 2011. It wouldn't surprise me if the carriers would chose to reduce inventory and focus on managing costs in the near future instead of agressively seeking growth and expansion. It's been shown that most of the growth in the mobile industry in the mid and long-term will likely come from overseas.
@Phucpholuc
So I guess we're just going to have to go the old fashioned route if we want to see Paris Hilton's undersmile?
@shogunmaster Dang it you beat me to the Paris Hilton joke.
@N900
I always hated Kin. The concept is great though -- having a phone that's 100% cloud based...problem is, the kin UI sucked...and the services just were not there...combine that with overpriced data plans and = fail.
I would love a cloud based feature phone -- you get the phone and you automatically get an account on some cloud server which can provide unified inbox \ push mail, social networking integration, contact storage, callendar, all that great stuff...problem is KIN just did not have good service support (didn't support all the major IM networks) and the UI and overall features were so lackluster...and the fact that it only updated the phone every 15 mins...that right there is complete fail. And the UI was shit too, and clunky...but that's MS for you, they don't know how to build a good mobile UI.
@N900
why is the T-mobile logo upside down?
@DoctarPeppar
i think its pretty sweet too i almost got one back in 08 and i would have if not for the iphone 3g
also the nokia n9 looks pretty similar if you dont mind symbian which i have never tried myself but ive heard good things and dont knock me about the iphone comment im a proud android convert with an unlocked nexus one and ive never looked back especially after all the antenna issues on the iphone 4
An actual powerful Sidekick powered by Android with a nice big screen...
@CJisohsocool
*sniff* *sniff*
say buddy, is that Gingerbread being baked in the oven there?
@LiveFromThe215
I'd be happy with Froyo lol.
@LiveFromThe215
I'd be happy with Froyo lol.
@CJisohsocool
Possibly something to do with that project emerald thing with gingerbread and 4 inch screen. Htc twist or something for tmo.
@deliteguy I just really hope that Emerald isn't plastered with Sidekick branding and others stupid crap. I just want a high-end QWERTY Android device on T-Mobile's network, is this too much to ask for?
@CJisohsocool - thats the plan. Google it. Codename: Emerald.
@CJisohsocool
HELL YEAH! if the last version of the sidekick had a slightly bigger screen and android with a more realistic and useful browser, it would've been awesome! i mean it even had things like multitasking, corporate email, (shitty) video and a few other features the original and 3g iphone didn't have.
but what we can all take from sidekick (even manufacturers), is the swivel joint. they spent years perfecting a single moving part that not only adds function, it is still really cool to use. if jobs says phones shouldn't have a stylus, then they should goddamn well have a hidden qwerty + modifier keys under a sidekick swivel jointed screen.
someone go make an android device and a iphone make babies with a sidekick. please?
@saschaisking
Agree with what you said. I also firmly believe that the original Sidekick still has the best keyboard of any mobile device.
Sidekicks always sucked. Thank god it's over.
@anotherworld Yes they did. I never had a urge to buy one. Always thought they were overrated
sucked anyways.
Chris Ziegler, the subtitle would have been better if it had said, "Welcome to the curb." As in kicked to the curb.
I don't remember the last time I see somebody using a sidekick. I do see more and more people getting the Cliq for a "cheap" advance phone with keyboard (with T-Mobile).
"Kin says welcome to the club"
Sidekick replies "at least I had a life"...
@PlatinumSkeet ahahaaaa... good one!
@PlatinumSkeet ooooooooooo snap!! XD
@PlatinumSkeet OOHHHHHH SNAP!! That reply was raw.
Meh it had alotta potential to be a good phone...
@sa56
Shake and shake
The catsup bottle,
None will come,
And then a lot’ll.
@Killing Time wtf?
Maybe getting rid of the sidekick and bringing more android phones into the fold could turn around T Mobiles image and get them some new customers.
I always viewed them as a teenybopper carrier for girls who txt message 23 hours a day because of the sidekick.
Are the two related?
@icon808 They're both designed for teenagers...
@icon808
Sorta. Danger created the Sidekick. It was bought by MS (for $500 million). Once at MS, most of the Danger team was reassigned to work on the Kin..many of them were then fired or left because of MS management team screwups. The Kin was the disaster that resulted. It just died. Now what's little of Danger is being moved to the WP7 team.
@teky
one of the guys that left after the Danger buyout, Andy Rubin founded Android and now leads the dev team now on Google. Gooood job Microsoft !
@charlietheunicorn
guess MS bout Danger just for the rad hw design team =)
I always wanted it, but they cant compete, if they had android on the other hand...
It had the best IM client I've ever used, period.
@Programmer
better than the BlackBerry?
@Programmer so agreed with u no other phone can compare
@Programmer I cant agree more. Sidekick IM client was the best i've ever used and probably will ever use.