T-Mobile USA Says Don’t Forget About The Sidekick—And Now It’s In 3G

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T-Mobile USA Says Don’t Forget About The Sidekick—And Now It’s In 3G

T-Mobile USA is unveiling a new Sidekick today that may even have Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) scared.

Why? Because the characteristics of iPhone and Sidekick users are frighteningly similar, and the new Sidekick 3G has a couple of things the iPhone doesn’t: a tactile Qwerty keyboard and a cheaper monthly rate plan. T-Mobile’s VP of Product Development Leslie Grandy suggests that the launch of the iPhone is finally giving T-Mobile credit for something it launched so many years ago. “We’ve become current now. In a way we are getting credit for the ways we have been doing things.”

Here’s some of the jaw-dropping numbers that Sidekick users generate:

—Send and receive 3,000 instant-messages a month
—Send and receive 600 text messages a month
—View more than 450 web pages a month
—Two-thirds of all traffic through the Sidekick browser goes to social networking sites
—Sidekick users generate more than 15 million requests to social networking sites every day

The Sidekick LX will be go on sale starting today (online only) for existing T-Mobile customers for $199, including a two-year service agreement and mail-in-rebate. It will be more widely available starting May 13 in select stores and online. While the phone costs as much as an 8 gigabyte iPhone, it’s the monthly fees where users will save. AT&T (NYSE: T) requires a $30 data plan, and unlimited text messages cost $20 more. T-Mobile charges $35 for unlimited data and messages at a savings of $15 a month.

To date, the Sidekick has had a fanatic following of teeny-boppers and celebrities, who used the device to easily surf the web and tap out thousands of messages from a full Qwerty keyboard. Today, the userbase stands at more than 1 million users—admittingly tiny compared to the number of iPhones out there. Grandy said that the Sidekick is aimed at a different demographic than the T-Mobile G1, the first Android phone. The Sidekick attracts more females, who are looking to communicate easily, while the G1 is for techy males who are interested in exploring and figuring out how things work.

Over the last few years, T-Mobile has put out a string of new devices through the work of Danger, Sidekick’s developer. This latest version was on track to be released a year ago, however, Danger was in the process of being bought by Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). Grandy: “The only thing that happened is that it took longer, but now we feel like it has a better landing place because the audience has a much clearer picture. It’s a niche that’s not quite being filled by the iPhone because texters don’t love the glass.” She said the two things that the device doesn’t have that they considered adding was Wi-Fi and a touchscreen. But by having to wait until the device’s release, she said she doesn’t regret not adding those things now. She said that’s because T-Mobile’s 3G network has expanded tremendously since then, making Wi-Fi less necessary. She also believes touch has been over done. “They like it cause it’s sexy and cool, but if you go to the touchscreen to send 3,000 IMs, it’s not a lot of fun.”

The phone also has an app store, one of the big buzz words in the industry. Grandy said its has an SDK and is currently accepting submissions, however, she would not go into details on the business arrangement between developers and the company—although developers can charge monthly or one-time fees for services. Besides the app store, the 3G version will come with built-in social networking applications such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, as well as GPS-enabled Microsoft Live Search (despite the company’s partnership with Yahoo). It will also allow users to watch videos from sites such as YouTube and MySpace (however, the browser does not have full Flash capabilities). It has a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, and can record videos and upload them directly to MySpace. And what may be really important to some, is upcoming support for ActiveSync to allow you to get your work email on your device.

Tricia Duryee

@triciad Apr 17, 2009 12:46 AM ET

Posted In: Companies, Apple, AT&T, T-Mobile

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Mark Le Shark

I would basically agree with Jeff.

Lured by the Sidekick's easy-to-use OS and its great QWERTY keyboard (prob. the device's only real strong point, IMO), I migrated to the Dwayne Wade version from a Blackberry 7290 two years ago.

But like a hot babe who turns out to be a bimbo with whom you have nothing in common, I soon realized I had made a big mistake. The "Kick is almost totally impractical as a phone—which at the end of the day is supposed to be its principal function. Too big, too heavy, and you can't easily dial a phone number not on your Contact list with the screen closed and the device held vertically—which is how you use it as phone (excluding speakerphone). This turned out to be not only a hassle, but nearly disastrous on at least one occasion when I was trying to dial a number while driving, which I don't even do that often.

Battery life was horrible and the screen resolution was a joke (I understand both these flaws have been improved on the LX). Grainy, subpar camera. The 'Kick devices seem to be mainly targeted at the under-25 or so demographic, who mainly use it as a mobile messenger for IM, texting, updating social-networking Websites, and basic e-mail. Def. *not* the right device for a 41 y.o. who prizes the phone function primarily, fast HTML internet browsing and e-mail secondarily, and texting thirdly. I only wished I had fully realized all its shortcomings before the T-mobile 2-week return window had closed. Switched to a Blackberry Curve later that year and was much happier.

I have Iphone 3G now (on AT&T) and while I hate some things about it, it serves my needs well overall. Like a Blackberry, many of its functions (including texting) can be accomplished with one hand. But the big, easy-to-view capacitative touchscreen gives it an advantage over the BB's (including the Storm, whose touchscreen is a joke, lol). If I needed "push" e-mail (esp. over an enterprise network server), I would switch to the BB Bold - prob. the only BB which is roughly on a par with the iphone in terms of functionality.

Here's hoping that the upcoming 3.0 OS update resolves the iphone's long-standing shortcomings (horizontal text messaging, copy/cut & paste functionality, video capture for the camera, MMS picture-sending ability, and push e-mail for clients other than Yahoo). And if the rumored new Iphone(s) also added better hardware—like a stronger battery, voice-activated dialing, stereo Bluetooth, and maybe some surprises—we'd be cooking with GAS !!!

Jeff Pederson

No way. Still love my iPhone, zillions of apps and uses, years ahead of the copycats trying to play catch-up. The only thing better than an iPhone is… next year's iPhone.