A danger for Skype users?

Long previously the iPhone, the Sidekick was the cool mobile phone. It was to the iPhone and Android what Paris Hilton is to Kim Kardashian - version 1.0.

Danger, the Silicon Valley company that made the Sidekick, had created an utterly new kind of phone, one that could surf the Web, instant message friends and attract the Us Weekly crowd.

On May 31, T-Mobile USA, which sold the Sidekick, and Microsoft ended the Danger wireless service. The Sidekick brand name will live on with other T-Mobile phones, nevertheless without the guts and unequalled device that won over believers in Danger's before days.

Danger's fate casts a long shadow today as Microsoft prepares to consummate its $8 billion purchase of the new hotness, Skype, a Luxembourg-based Internet phone service. Though Danger and Skype are definitely different companies, there are parallels. Both are hyper focused on consumers, and both have a strong startup culture. The similarities make Microsoft's experience with Danger all the more relevant to its pending assimilation of Skype.

The Sidekick launched in 2002

When the Sidekick launched in 2002, the BlackBerry and Palm Treo were the most popular Web-connected mobile phones, and they were broadly speaking for business execs. The Sidekick was the first breakout smartphone success for noncorporate types who just wanted to message their friends.

Cloud computing? Earlier people even called it the cloud, the Sidekick service was storing messages, photos, apps and address books on servers.

Danger showed off the device at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2002 by dropping a bowling ball on the phone, at the time firing up a new phone and downloading all of the smashed phones' contacts, photos and messages from the cloud.

The first major U.S.

The first major U.S. carrier to sell it was T-Mobile USA, which branded it the Sidekick and launched it in October 2002. Even by today's standards, the voice and data plan was surprisingly affordable, attracting clients younger than 35. T-Mobile offered the device for $199 with a $39.99 monthly plan that included all-you-can-eat data and 1,200 minutes of voice calls.

Bridging the def and deaf, the Sidekick as well became the communication device of choice in the hearing-impaired community.

The phone had drawbacks

The phone had drawbacks. The design was clunky, and surfing was slow because the wireless network was running older research.

T-Mobile was the only major national carrier that sold the Sidekick, and its clients represented 92 percent of Danger's business.

Danger made most of its money by receiving a cut of the service plan from the carrier. Danger as well sold apps and shared that revenue with developers.

The number of Sidekicks sold grew from 136,000 to 923,000 from 2004 to 2007. That was a wafer-thin slice of the estimated 80 million smartphones shipped in 2006, however the fan base was dedicated.

The company lost $12 million on sales of $56 million in 2007, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and had about $13 million in cash. By at that time, Danger knew Apple was preparing to launch the iPhone. As Danger prepared to go public, Microsoft swooped in and bought the company for $500 million in April 2008.

What happened at once changed the course of Danger

What happened at once changed the course of Danger and phone development at Microsoft. Asked for its version of events, Microsoft declined to comment for this story.

T-Mobile released a statement saying, "Data services as of May 31st, are no longer available on Sidekick devices with the Danger Service." People with Sidekicks will be able to make phone calls and send text messages, nevertheless they won't be able to access the Internet or receive email.

But they said they quickly realized that Microsoft bought the Sidekick team to put to work on its smartphone project, the Kin, and that the work cultures and environment were different.

Separate Microsoft team

A separate Microsoft team was working on Windows Phone 7, and it was confusing to the outside world what specifically Microsoft's mobile strategy was.

When the team launched the Sidekick 3 in 2006, the new device barely lost any weight from the old model. Apple began selling its first iPhone a year later.

The Kin in May 2010 with a thud

Microsoft launched the Kin in May 2010 with a thud. The phone tried to make social networking its core function, however it had fewer features than the Sidekick had.

The Kin as well was hobbled by the lack of an App Store. And the pricing that the carrier, Verizon Wireless, had set was higher than what the Sidekick service had cost. Zimmerman walked into a Verizon Wireless store to check out the phone, and he said the salesperson steered him elsewhere.

A year later, Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7. As Microsoft began shutting down the Danger service this year, former Danger workers were absorbed into other Microsoft teams, according to former Danger employees. A skeletal team however works at the Danger office in Palo Alto, they said.

Danger employees have scattered. The bulk went to work at Google for the Android group. One of the original co-founders, Andy Rubin, built the mobile operating system Android, which Google acquired. Android, with 100 million users, now is the fastest-growing smartphone operating system.

The era of big data has arrived

The era of big data has arrived. Last year, consumers and businesses around the world are estimated to have stored more than 13 exabytes of information on PCs, laptops and other devices - the equivalent of more than 52,000 ...

Andy Rubin, Google's top mobile-phone executive, likes to talk about everything being "Android-ized." Android has become the top smartphone operating system in the United States, however Google's ambitions for it go then beyond ...

Telecom equipment maker Ericsson has famously predicted there will be 50 billion devices connected to data networks by 2020.