Microsoft has announced that the acquisition of Danger is now complete. Danger, for those not in the know, is the brains behind T-Mobile’s popular Sidekick device and provides one of the best OS on the market. Danger will be left alone in their Bay Area offices, but will join the Premium Mobile Experiences group at Microsoft. This group focuses on ‘consumer-facing mobile projects.’ “We imagine a mobile experience that embraces sharing and celebrating relationships and personal moments,” Ho (Corp VP of PMX) said. “Combining Danger and Microsoft talents together in the Premium Mobile Experiences team is how we’re going to deliver cool, new, fun mobile experiences to consumers. We want people to smile every time they look at their phone.” “At Danger, we created a fun and easy-to-use mobile experience for today’s Internet-savvy consumer,” Britt (co-founder of Danger) said. Hershenson (co-founder of Danger) added, “As we combine our team and technologies with Microsoft, we see a clear path to evolving that experience and delivering it to an even broader group of consumers.” Does this mean the demise of T-Mobile’s Sidekick line? I hope not. I have a soft spot for that device. → Read More
There are some reports/rumors going around that Sidekicks will be getting NES emulators and it’s half true. I saw an SK3 last week with the NES emulator, but it won’t be coming from Danger or T-Mobile. The emulator is popping up from the developer community, so unless you know someone who has access to the community you won’t be getting it. → Read More
In honor of the Grammy’s 50th anniversary, T-Mobile Sidekick brought Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliot to NYC. Both artists put on great shows and despite the Grammys’ PR folks being total asshats (T-Mo was the antithesis of asshat) to me and Nicholas, we had a great time. The T-Mo crew had Sidekick LXs on display and all the Sidekick users in the crowd made me miss mine. There are three tour stops remaining with different artists so check them out in Miami, Dallas and LA. → Read More
According to a recent Microsoft press release, “Microsoft Corp. today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Danger Inc., the company responsible for the software and services powering many popular consumer handsets.” I like the Sidekick software interface. I’m not crazy about the Windows Mobile interface. I’m hoping this means that the Danger interface will smarten up Windows Mobile and not that Windows Mobile will dumb down the Danger interface. Gotta be honest — didn’t see this one coming. → Read More
No disrespect to the original, but BHIC does a damn good job here. Give it a minute before you hit the jump for the one and only. Looking to switch carriers? T-mobile near the top of the list? Well, the deal just got sweeter because they’re waiving the $35 activation fee for n00bs until the end of the year. So scoot on over to your local store or check out the site. The Curve, Sidekick LX, N95, Stripe and Shadow are good choices for your impending exodus. → Read More
Had no idea Danger was in the hole $7.2 million. Most of us know Danger through the T-Mobile Sidekick brand, which utilizes the Palo Alto-based company’s software-as-service for data and Internet, but they make a few extra bucks for themselves in Europe and OZ with the hiptop brand. At the end of their fiscal year on September 30, Danger reported a loss of $28 million. The previous year’s loss was $21 million despite an increase in revenue to the tune of $56 million, which eclipsed the previous year by $7 million. With that much debt, which isn’t too bad, Danger is looking to raise a bit of working capital with an IPO that Reuters is reporting to be in the ballpark of $100 million. With the popularity of the Sidekick/Hiptop device, I figured they were making enough off of T-Mobile, Motorola and Sharp, but I guess not. It sort of makes sense considering that most start ups lean on private funding to keep them going. I wonder how much it will go for. Sidekick maker Danger to go IPO route [RCR Wireless News] → Read More
This piece was originally published in October. We would have also recommended the Slide, but it’s broked. I have a thing for the iPhone, if you couldn’t tell. But before I drank the Kool-Aid, I was a Sidekick man. What does it mean to be a Sidekick man? It means you give up a lot to get great email and instant messaging services and few, if any, third-party applications and very little freedom. Huh. Kind of like the iPhone, except without the messaging. So when I got the LX last week, I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it. After all, I had already abandoned the SK3 and SK ID for the charming animations of the iPhone. So what if the iPhone didn’t have native AIM on the iPhone — there were a few apps that kind of worked. So what if the iPhone didn’t have a solid, real keyboard. I could handle that. So what if the iPhone wasn’t one of the best casual messaging phones on the market? It had some good points. Umm… It was covered in chrome? Read the rest… → Read More
You’ve already picked up all the handbags, pashmina, and fancy scented candles you can carry and got dad some cologne. The sig. other and your mom both have presents in the queue and your snotty nephew gets a basketball. You got a raw food book for your weird co-worker and Black Friday came and went because you knew — you could feel it in your heart — that nothing Circuit City or Best Buy put on sale would satisfy your refined cravings. It’s time to shop for yourself and/or other geeks, and we’re here to help. Welcome to CG Holidays 2007. We’ll have gift guides, sure, but who the heck reads gift guides? Instead, we’ll write about stuff that gives us pleasure, be it a Sidekick LX or a nice coat. We’re not just limiting this to gadgets, either. We’ll be talking about cool stuff we use and love and think you might enjoy, as well. If you have any suggestions, send us an email to tips@crunchgear.com and we’ll add reader suggestions to the mix. The holidays are upon us and we’ve been good to everyone we like and love. Now it’s time for some payback. CG Holidays 2007 → Read More
Well, lookie lookie at what AT&T did for all you crazed iFones owners. They’ve given you the option to drop your data plan down to $0, which is nice, though, you lose Visual Voicemail, SMS text messaging and unlimited data (re: no more e-mail and Web). Now, I don’t own an iPhone nor do I really know what the data plans are so this could all be old news, so I implore the CG audience to fill in any gaps. AT&T Quietly Adds Option to Drop iPhone Data Plan [iPod Observer] → Read More
I have a thing for the iPhone, if you couldn’t tell. But before I drank the Kool-Aid, I was a Sidekick man. What does it mean to be a Sidekick man? It means you give up a lot to get great email and instant messaging services and few, if any, third-party applications and very little freedom. Huh. Kind of like the iPhone, except without the messaging. So when I got the LX last week, I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it. After all, I had already abandoned the SK3 and SK ID for the charming animations of the iPhone. So what if the iPhone didn’t have native AIM on the iPhone — there were a few apps that kind of worked. So what if the iPhone didn’t have a solid, real keyboard. I could handle that. So what if the iPhone wasn’t one of the best casual messaging phones on the market? It had some good points. Umm… It was covered in chrome? → Read More
Ceci n’est pas un iPhone According to NPD, current iPhone owners are three times more likely to have owned a Sidekick — after you see the LX you’ll probably just go back to the Sidekick, BTW — and that T-Mobile was the hardest hit during the initial wave of defections. When it comes to carrier switching, Alltel and T-Mobile took the biggest hit from Apple and AT&T’s iPhone marketing juggernaut. Consumers who switched carriers to buy an iPhone were three times more likely to switch from Alltel or T-Mobile than from other carriers. Sprint and Verizon also lost customers to AT&T and the iPhone, but not nearly to the same degree, due to their existing over-the-air (OTA) music offerings, rich video and data services and 3G networks already in place. This is to be expected, but I wonder if all those defectors actually did what I did and bought the phone to switch it over to their T-Mo account. Visual voicemail is nice and all but an iPhone with T-Mo’s $20 Sidekick plan is nicer. I honestly think this data is skewed by this behavior and that T-Mo isn’t feeling that much of a pinch. How are you, dear readers, using your iPhone. With the AT&T plan? With something else? The iPhone impact: Treo, T-Mobile take biggest hit [ZDNet] → Read More
As a Sidekick fanboy, I’ve been diligently waiting for Sharp/Danger to produce a Sidekick that doesn’t make me regret switching from the SK2 to SK3. I’ve seen the Sidekick LX and it’s the best incarnation I’ve seen. Not only is it thinner than its predecessors, but the screen is much larger and brighter thanks to Sharp’s AQUOS LCD. The camera remains the same at 1.3-megapixels, but the optics are improved so picture quality is a tad bit better and it comes in two different colors, which is a first to Sidekicks (midnight blue and espresso brown). → Read More
