Problems Danger Microsoft Caused T-Mobile & the Aftermath

T-Mobile was one of the largest contributors to the smartphone world before AT&T decided to merge with the company. The company stood at the ready for the rollout of the next generation of phones and when 4G services came, it decided to jump that gun as well since the company already offered HSPA+ services, so T-Mobile slapped a label on it and called it 4G.

Nevertheless, two separate but distinct disappointments hit the company's throne in October 2009 and it looked as if T-Mobile might not survive since T-Mobile had so many problems with MyTouch 3G and then problems with Microsoft's servers. T-Mobile kept afloat to get out from under the wave of bad luck then, but the company was still no match for AT&T's eventual merger (hostile takeover?).

T-Mobile's First Brush with Microsoft
When the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G first rolled out, also known as the HTC Magic, the most T-Mobile and Google fans were ecstatic that there was an Android phone to play with, sort of anyway. The MyTouch 3G offered great applications allowing users to run more than one app in the background, and the MyTouch 3G also has an app to search for wireless hotspots. Not only does it look for them and tell you where the hotspots are, but it also tells you which of the hotspots are free to use. Some of the hotspots at the time included Starbucks, most major airports and FedEx/Kinko's stores, and all with the help of AT&T. To top it off, the MyTouch 3G ran one of the first Google's Android operating systems, which meant the Hot Spot app was free to use.

So what went wrong with MyTouch 3G? The Microsoft ActiveSync feature happened, that's what.At the time, ActiveSync was being called rudimentary at best. According to eWeek Labs, "The new ActiveSync support was a colossal disappointment." What happened is that ActiveSync did not connect properly to the servers and instead did nothing, unless users manually connected, the ActiveSync feature just would not work. Many user reviews reiterated this flaw.

Bigger, Bolder Microsoft Problems
As if the ActiveSync problem was not enough, Microsoft hit the company again. It destroyed the data service to the T-Mobile Sidekick. In October of 2009, right after the ActiveSync fiasco, T-Mobile's Sidekick was without data services entirely because a server at Danger Microsoft went down. Microsoft reported in that month that the downed servers were because someone at the company sabotaged them purposely. The worst part about the downed data services was that T-Mobile announced all data that users uploaded to the cloud was lost permanently. T-Mobile claimed that the company found a way to retrieve some of the lost data, but that it probably would not work. T-Mobile also advised that those who still had their Sidekick turned on should not have removed the chip or powered down, lest they lose any miraculously retained data forever.

Another Flaw: No Flash Support
At the time, Flash made up a good portion of what people could experience on the Internet. The MyTouch 3G's lack of support for Adobe Flash left users asking how anyone was supposed to do anything. At the time, no Flash meant no YouTube or Hulu, but the upside no flash was that there would be no problem with Flash Cookies. These cookies are called LSOs and they destroyed privacy -still do at times. They installed themselves in the Flash folder on the system so that they remained hidden from view. The plug-in capability helps the cookies hide accesses macromedia files in the user's hard drive, but this is another story for another day.

Since most Sidekick users were raging mad, according to the now erased forum posts in the T-Mobile Sidekick help section, T-Mobile had tried many things to satiate their large appetite for vengeance. First, the company offered to give the customers a $100 credit for existing service, or towards a future bill. A second choice was a month of free service plus the time that had been lost until that point free of charge. There was also an offer to back out of the entire Sidekick contract, an offer that many took the company up on and they were able to do so without penalty. T-Mobile made a good faith effort to satisfy their consumers in any way that they could.

Microsoft Took None of the Blame
Now the question that remained was what Microsoft would do to fix the problems the company's downed servers caused. Fact was that Microsoft had purchased Danger, and that the problems were in the Danger department, so to speak. At the time, Microsoft blamed the server problem on the fact that the company had not yet had a chance to inspect how the servers ran so it could be proactive about any problems. Nevertheless, the takeover occurred in 2007 and two years was surely enough time to figure out the potential server problems. In fact, instead of looking for potential problems, Microsoft cut support services to Danger because it wanted to cut costs after the massive purchase.

According to Roz Ho, Microsoft's Corporate Vice President at the time, in an apology letter written to T-Mobile consumers, he stated that upon further analysis, Microsoft engineers were able to recover most of the lost data and while initial reports claimed that sabotage was the cause, the official stance was that it was a simple system failure. This failure was massive, though, and caused much of the data to be erased from the database core and back-up files.

The Aftermath

The message also stated that Microsoft initiated changes to the way the servers are maintained so this would not happen again, and it is exactly what the company should have done two years prior. While CVP Ho apologized on Microsoft's behalf, Microsoft itself took none of the blame and instead blamed it on the machinery, even though it was Microsoft's fault for neglecting the systems and not inspecting them. As such, Microsoft did not have to deal with the Sidekick consumers other than to say they were sorry. It was T-Mobile who shelled out thousands in credits and refunds, it was T-Mobile who lost the contracts and business, and was T-Mobile that continued in the business with that stain on their name possibly barring other potential consumers from purchasing anything, let alone the Sidekick 2 when it was released.

Updated 8/2011

Sources:

Felix Salmon, "How the Sidekick Fiasco is Microsoft's Fault," Reuters

Press Release by Roz Ho, CVP, "Microsoft Confirms Data Recovery for Sidekick Users," Microsoft

Steve Lesem, "The Danger Sidekick Microsoft Fiasco: Don't Blame the Cloud (UPDATED)," Cloud Storage Strategy