T-Mobile has announced that it will shut down the servers responsible for maintaining the functionality of the T-Mobile Sidekick series of devices on May 31st. Before then, the carrier has confirmed several methods of exporting the data on the device to a computer or to another phone, with upgrade offers also being proposed for current Sidekick owners.

This also follows the previous confirmation of an Android-powered Sidekick model slated for launch later this year with manufacturing handled by Samsung. Danger itself was founded in 2001 and became successful with the Hiptop device when it was picked up by T-Mobile and rebranded as the Sidekick.  The device was known for delivering true push email to consumers and for its heavy focus on messaging before text messaging took hold in the US. Read More for the statement.

"After May 31, 2011, the Danger Service (a subsidiary of Microsoft) used by T-Mobile Sidekick customers for data services will no longer be available on Sidekick devices.T-Mobile will provide offers for our Sidekick customers before May 31, 2011, to help make an easy transition from their existing Sidekick device to a new device. We will have more information to share about these offers with our customers in the weeks ahead.
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."

Danger continued to refine and improve the Sidekick over the years, releasing the II, LX, 3 and ID before being purchased by Microsoft in 2008 and absorbing the team into the Entertainment Services division of the software giant, but not before suffering a near disaster with the near loss of the server network that contained all of the user data for the Sidekick and also affected data access in 2009.

Not long after the purchase, the Danger team began work on what was known as “Project Pink” which was a series of phones that was to succeed the Sidekick series and powered by a subset of Windows Phone. Once the project was officially announced as KIN, hopes were high that the devices would become successful. The launch itself proved disastrous for both Microsoft and the Danger team as sales of the KIN One and Kin Two were far below projections, as low as 500 total devices sold and forcing Verizon to severely discount the devices only a month after launch before ultimately discontinuing them, only to revive sales when new data plans were introduced.

In an attempt to clear out stockpiles upon stockpiles of product, as well as salvaging whatever profit potential to be had, Verizon internal documentation has confirmed that the carrier plans to relaunch the Kin One and Kin Two as the Kin Onem and the Kin Twom this quarter.

The impetus for the relaunch may have also been inspired by the carrier’s recent data plan realignment, with the $15 data plan being an easier sell instead of a mandatory $30 unlimited plan as previously required during the device’s launch period when it was classified as a smart device.

With the Kin series now classed as a Feature Phone under Verizon’s new device classification system, this means that customers will not even have to attach a data plan for purchase, though it does raise the issue of the availability of its former selling points in The Loop and the Kin Studio as the devices did not feature a PC-based sync option during its initial launch and depended solely on the Kin Studio for contact sync and media upload. The former resembles the discontinued Sidekick series which was developed by the same team that developed the Kin.

T-Mobile has confirmed that they will stop selling the Sidekick line of phones.

The move comes a day after Microsoft announced that KIN will be phased out, in order to focus on Windows Phone 7. These two moves, combined with the phaseout of Windows Mobile Standard, leave Microsoft without a single feature phone offering.

The T-Mobile Sidekick was doomed from the start of Microsoft’s acquisition of Danger. Mobile Vice President Roz Ho intended to leverage Danger’s talent to convert the Windows CE platform into a social media-sharing successor to Sidekick. In an ironic twist, Roz Ho gave orders to cut costs in outsourcing Sidekick data management, which led to the Sidekick’s massive data outage, leaving user Sidekick data missing and temporarily lost.

The death of the Sidekick platform did not help KIN, which media reports peg at having sold less than 500 units across all Verizon retail channels. Microsoft refuses to comment as to if that sales figure is correct.

Sidekick operated under a BSD-based operating system, making future development virtually unacceptable at Microsoft. The open source platform would have required Microsoft to continue offering source code for additional features and services.

As previously reported, Microsoft will roll KIN’s advances, built on Sidekick braintrust, over to Windows Phone 7. It is expected that KIN services, including it’s cloud storage and sharing options, will be available in a future update to Windows Phone 7, after launch.

Microsoft today announced that they are phasing out the KIN platform, bringing a quick end to Microsoft’s fourth (incompatible) Windows Phone platform.

KIN was Microsoft’s attempt to do what Windows Mobile Standard failed to do; offer a smartphone that was cheap and attractive to consumers and teenagers. The phone was powered by Windows CE, but incompatible with Microsoft’s three other Windows Phone platforms (Windows Mobile 6.5.3, Windows Embedded Handheld, and Windows Phone 7).

Microsoft’s goal was to leverage these four platforms, and over time create software that would allow them to exist equally in the marketplace. With Windows Mobile being phased out, Microsoft had hoped to create a universal SDK that would allow developers to chose APIs that targeted each device. In Microsoft’s plan, a developer could make a basic game (eventually) that would run on both KIN and Windows Phone 7. Or, they could write an app that catered to business users on Windows Embedded Handheld, as well as Windows Phone 7.

That plan remains largely intact with this change, KIN’s features will be rolled into Windows Phone 7 via software updates. Windows Phone 7 will eventually be able to access KIN’s Loop and other social networking features.

As to KIN itself, Microsoft has committed to continuing to sell the device as-is, and will offer a major software update later this summer. Beyond that, it appears Microsoft will continue to sell the phone in a similar fashion to the T-Mobile Sidekick; as long as there are buyers willing to purchase the device.

The death of KIN marks at least the hardware-side’s end to Roz Ho’s multi-billion dollar expedition by Microsoft to find some purpose for the acquired Danger corporation. Danger was able to combine cheap hardware with social networking features, as well as attractive data plans.

Attractive data plans appear to be where KIN failed the most. Faced with a phone that would use massive amounts of data to share media, Verizon chose to require smartphone data pricing. In its current form, KIN does not yet have an App Store, and resembles a feature phone in many respects. While Microsoft had planned to remedy that down the line, sluggish sales had forced the company to face facts; a Palm Pre Plus, complete with 3G Mobile Hotspot and a full App Catalog… cost the same as a basic KIN phone with contract.

Other losers in KIN’s demise appear to be Sharp and PCD. Sharp handled manufacturing for KIN and Sidekick alike, and was their lone mobile phone offering in the United States. PCD handled device adaptation for both Sidekick and KIN, operating as a bridge between Microsoft in the US, and Sharp in Japan.

Pricing for the Microsoft Kin line of social networking oriented devices has appeared within the myriad of reviews for the device ahead of its official launch.

The Kin One will be offered for $149.99 with the Kin Two being offered for $199.99 before additional $100 mail-in rebates, bringing the totals to $49.99 and $99.99 via the online store beginning on Thursday May 6th. The devices will be then launched via the rest of Verizon’s sales channels beginning next Thursday, May 13th.

In the biggest stumble for the long-term success of the concept and lineup, Verizon is requiring a standard $29.99 smartphone data plan on top of the $39.99 minimum Nationwide voice plan instead of offering a custom data plan in the vein of the Sidekick data plan from which the Kin is modeled after.

Internal Verizon documentation has confirmed the forthcoming launch of the Microsoft Kin One and Kin Two social networking devices soon after their official unveling last month. The devices will launch with a pre-order campaign on May 6th, culminating with a launch across all sales channels on May 13th.

Pricing is yet to be determined, but is expected to be confirmed once the devices go up for pre-order later this week. The Kin One and Kin Two are the first devices to emerge out of Microsoft’s purchase and integration of Danger, with the Sharp-sourced hardware being the first CDMA-based hardware sold in the US from the Japanese manufacturer.

Click for full-size

Microsoft’s dedicated portal for the yet to be officially announced Kin series of social networking and multimedia focused devices has launched ahead of its official announcement during the Microsoft press event currently underway at the time of this report.

The screenshot above details the Kin One and Kin Two devices along with references to Sharp, Verizon Wireless and Windows Phone, suggesting the operating system for the Kin is a variant of the smartphone operating system.

Microsoft has announced a live webcast of its Project Pink handset announcement for Monday morning at 10AM PDT/12PMCDT/1PMEST.

The company is expected to confirm details regarding the forthcoming lineup of social network and multimedia focused handsets expected to first launch in the US via Verizon Wireless with hardware manufactured by former Danger device manufacturer partner Sharp.

The first solid details regarding Microsoft’s “Project Pink” initiative involving its Danger acquisition have surfaced.

There will be two devices manufactured by former Danger ODM Sharp, the device pictured at right codenamed “Turtle” and another device which will be a horizontal slider codenamed “Pure” with HVGA resolution displays and QWERTY keyboards. The software platform will be based on Windows CE 6.0 and be powered by Nvidia’s Tegra platform.

Verizon will be the exclusive carrier partner for the US version owing to its CDMA EVDO Rev A radios, while Vodafone will be the exclusive international carrier across its network around the world.  Preliminary information suggests an April 20th launch on Verizon with an early summer launch on Vodafone networks around the world.

The FCC has revealed an as yet announced slider manufactured by Sharp which features CDMA EVDO Rev. A, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi radios on board.

The aforementioned device would also be Sharp’s first CDMA device sold in the US, as it typically provides CDMA devices for Japanese carrier KDDI AU and GSM/UMTS devices across carriers inside and outside of Japan.

Speculation abounds that the device is a part of Microsoft’s long awaited “Project Pink” series of devices created with input from the internal Danger team responsible for the design of the Sidekick/Hiptop, also manufactured by Sharp.

The official announcement for the device and series is expected this week during the Mobile World Congress expo in Barcelona, Spain.