UPDATE: Sidekick data lost in the cloud: T-Mo USA warns users to not power down devices

Following a week-long data outage, T-Mobile USA Inc. has told customers of its Danger Sidekick devices that any information uploaded to its servers has likely been lost and that customers should not allow their device to lose power as any stored information could also be lost. Danger, which provides the software for the Sharp-manufactured device, is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corp.
“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 USA said in a note to Sidekick customers. “That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low.”
T-Mobile USA sent an update to Sidekick users Monday evening saying it has “made significant progress this past weekend, restoring services to virtually every customer. Microsoft/Danger has teams of experts in place who are working around-the-clock to ensure this stability is maintained.”
The carrier also provided some hope for those that have lost data noting: “Recent efforts indicate the prospects of recovering some lost content may now be possible. We will continue to keep you updated on this front; we know how important this is to you.”
As for compensation, T-Mobile USA has added a $100 “customer appreciation card” to its previous offer of a free month of data service for Sidekick users.
All Sidekick devices are also listed as “Temporarily Out of Stock” on the carrier’s site as of Monday morning.
Reports of Sidekick data outages began last week and reportedly resulted in a large number of customers attempting to hard boot their devices by removing the battery and allowing the device to reconfigure itself by automatically downloading the users stored information from Danger’s servers.
“We continue to advise customers to not reset their device by removing the battery or letting their battery drain completely, as any personal content that currently resides on your device will be lost,” the carrier warned.
The disruption outlines one of the challenges of so-called cloud-based services that have become increasingly popular in the mobile space. These services have been touted as providing greater capabilities for mobile devices as it removes processor- and storage-heavy applications from a device and making them accessible using native wireless data connections to a server. Palm Inc.’s WebOS and Apple Inc.’s MobileME platforms use a similar cloud service, as does Motorola Inc.’s upcoming MotoBlur offering.
Research In Motion Ltd., which uses a similar architecture for its BlackBerry e-mail service, has in the past been the victim of high-profile outages that have prevented the delivery of e-mail messages to mobile devices, though RIM has never had any messages lost during such outages.