T-Mobile USA Inc. has remotely erased four games on all of its Sidekick color-screen devices sold-a move that highlights the Sidekick’s unique technology but also the potential pitfalls of such a service.
T-Mobile sells its branded Sidekick through a partnership with device startup Danger Inc. Using the device’s Java operating system, T-Mobile can push new applications and features to the device over the air, a feature that gives the carrier an innovative way to promote new services and technologies as well as its own brand.
However, T-Mobile also can use the over-the-air technology to remove applications from the device as well-which is just what the carrier did last week. T-Mobile released the color-screen device just last month, and future Sidekicks will not include the games.
Bryan Zidar, a T-Mobile spokesman, said the carrier removed the games in order to replace them with more advanced downloadable games. Zidar declined to provide details on the forthcoming downloadable games, and wouldn’t say when they would be available.
Zidar said the over-the-air function ensures that the Sidekick is “future proof,” allowing the carrier to continue to update it with newer features and technologies.
“I think people that enjoy playing games will really appreciate the richer gaming experience” with the new downloadable games, he said.
However, some Sidekick users seemed less than appreciative. Indeed, T-Mobile did not tell customers why the games were being removed.
“I’m actually going to miss `Shuffle,’ which was a great game to play during long-winded meetings,” one owner posted to a Sidekick user Internet site, www.hiptop.com.
“If Danger/T-Mobile can remove apps at will, then what do I own?” asked another Sidekick owner. “I obviously don’t own a computer with software on it, you just removed it. Is the Sidekick not a piece a property, but only a service from Danger and T-Mobile?”
Other Sidekick owners were more positive, expressing hope that the carrier would offer better games as a replacement.
The Sidekick issue serves to highlight a notable trend in the industry as carriers look to expand into the data services market.
Some carriers are content to offer phones and devices from big-name players like Nokia Corp., but others have been working to promote their own brand by selling devices featuring their logo. The move has fathered a crop of device startups, like Danger, Sendo, Handspring Inc. and others that are looking to satisfy carrier’s branding desires. And in Danger’s case, the company’s carrier partners not only have control over the branding but also over the software on the device itself.
Analysts see such situations as a double-edged sword. On one hand, carriers can promote their own brand above that of a handset maker, but on the other hand, they risk the ire of a customer unsatisfied with a carrier-branded device.
