I come to bury Sidekick, not to praise him. Less than 24 hours after Microsoft killed Kin dead, T-Mobile has abandoned the granddaddy of messaging phones. Sidekick sales will cease tomorrow, July 2nd, and honestly? No one will care.
https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-kills-kin-5576764
The Sidekick LX and Sidekick 2008 will no longer be supported by T-Mobile after tomorrow, while they “work on the next chapter” of the franchise:
https://gizmodo.com/sidekick-lx-2009-review-5236235
As T-Mobile looks to further innovate and raise the bar for the next iteration 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. 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.
Which is a polite way of saying that in this world of hyper-capable smartphones, there’s really no place for a device that costs as much and can’t do nearly enough.
It’s not like no one saw this coming, either; reports of Sidekick’s imminent demise go all the way back to January.
https://gizmodo.com/unconfirmed-t-mobile-phasing-out-sidekick-following-in-5455800
Will Sidekick come back ever? Sure, probably. It’s still a strong brand even if the products are obsolete. But when it does return, you’d better believe it’ll have a real OS behind it. [Boy Genius Report]
