T-Mobile Shuts Down Sidekick Services

T-Mobile USA had written to inform us that the carrier will be shutting down its servers for the Sidekick service, which are operated by Microsoft post-Danger acquisition. The Sidekick service will officially end on May 31, 2011, and the carrier will reach out to affected customers to help them migrate to a new device. In the interim, T-Mobile advises Sidekick users to begin to export and transfer their data:

To ensure the best possible transition for our loyal Sidekick customers, an enhanced Web tool is available on myT-Mobile.com to easily export their personal data, including contacts, photos, calendar, notes, to-do lists, and bookmarks, from the Danger service to a new device, computer, or a designated e-mail account.  An application is also available in the Sidekick Catalog to make it easy to export personal data to the Sidekick’s memory card.  Many T-Mobile stores can transfer data from that card to a new T-Mobile device if the customer brings in the memory card and Sidekick.

At its height, the Sidekick was a popular ‘smartphone’ that was targeted to the youth demographics due to its simple user interface, full keyboard, and notification lights. The devices were initially manufactured by Sharp and ran the Danger OS; Motorola eventually helped to manufacture some Sidekick devices.

In the pre-Android and pre-webOS era, the Sidekick devices tapped into Danger’s servers to store and manage information in the cloud, including photos, address book contacts, and other personal information. In 2005, the Sidekick brand gained notoriety as a hacker managed to hack into famed heiress Paris Hilton’s account and obtained her contact list as well as some photos.