Sidekick kicks the can

T-Mobile USA Inc. (DT) closed a chapter on its Sidekick franchise last Friday as the industry’s No. 4 carrier stopped selling the iconic device, though it said it will continue to support product services and support.
The carrier hinted that while the current lineup of Sharp Corp.-built and Danger/Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)-powered devices has seen its last days, it could be developing a succeeding lineup in the coming months.
“As T-Mobile looks to further innovate and raise the bar for the next generation of the T-Mobile Sidekick, as of July 2, the Sidekick LX and Sidekick 2008 will no longer be available through T-Mobile, including retail stores, care, telesales and online,” noted T-Mobile USA spokesman Peter Dobrow in a statement. “While we work on the next chapter of our storied Sidekick franchise, T-Mobile will continue to provide our loyal Sidekick customers with product service and support. Stay tuned for exciting updates in the months ahead, which we expect will provide customers with a new and fresh experience.”
Despite a near cult-like following, the Sidekick devices have been overshadowed in T-Mobile USA’s lineup by an increasing number of devices powered by Google Inc.’s (GOOG) Android operating system that provide many of the same functions of the Sidekick models with greater access to an increasingly-important applications store.
Last October the Sidekick service suffered a near-meltdown that stranded consumer data that was normally stored on servers whenever a consumer turned their device off. T-Mobile USA and Microsoft were eventually able to restore user data.
The demise of the Danger/Microsoft-powered Sidekicks came just days after Microsoft discontinued its Kin devices that were developed using expertise the company picked up when it acquired Danger Inc. in 2008 and were also built by Sharp. The Kin lineup was launched in May exclusively at Verizon Wireless (VZ), but reportedly met with dismal sales as consumers were confused about the devices’ positioning as more than a quick-messaging device, but not quite a smartphone. The not-quite-a-smartphone issue was more pressing as consumers were forced to pay $30 per month for Verizon Wireless’ smartphone data package even though the Kin’s lacked much of the functionality seen as standard in smartphones.