Microsoft (MSFT) Failure Destroys T-Mobile Customer Data

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
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“Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger’s latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos – that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger.”–T-Mobile customer service website.

T-Mobile customers just got news as bad as any that a mobile customer can get. All of the data stored on their handsets is gone forever.  T-Mobile has about a million users of the Sidekick although many of those may store some of their data locally on their devices.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is trying to challenge Symbian, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), RIM (NASDAQ:RIMM), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and other software and service providers in the wireless handheld market. The T-Mobile debacle may be a set-back from which the world’s largest software maker cannot recover.

Two years ago, Apple and Google were not even in the mobile market. Now, the iPhone is considered one of the most if no the most successful handset launch since the Motorola (NYSE:MOT) Razr. Google’s Android operating system is being used by every major carrier in the US and a number of companies overseas.

T-Mobile has a million nervous customers, all due to Microsoft’s failure. That is about as bad as PR gets.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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