Summary
T-Mobile’s free month of the data plan to Sidekick customers is a standard gesture, and the bigger question is if the data failure will be used to promote Android.
Analysis
T-Mobile USA reacted decisively by giving one free month of the data plan to Sidekick owners. The critical outcome is whether T-Mobile promotes Android with a discount to Sidekick owners on the HTC Touch Pro 2 or the Motorola CLIQ. A factor might be how quickly Microsoft discloses the cause of failure at the data center. Microsoft has to find a way to distance the failure from the Windows Mobile 6.5 launch and explain it in terms of the Danger acquisition.
If T-Mobile aggressively offers the Android HTC to Sidekick customers, Google wins with the one-touch access to its services like Google Maps. And if T-Mobile promotes the Android-powered CLIQ, Motorola gains attention to its new MOTOBLUR software that it pitches as “The First Phone with Social Skills”. T-Mobile gains an edge on Sprint’s similar Android model of the HTC Hero as both carriers try to stay viable in postpaid contract customers. T-Mobile also defends its Android leadership as Verizon starts an Android partnership and Dell is rumored to take an Android phone to AT&T. For the entire mobile industry, the Sidekick failure will show how much mobile users store data on a phone only, how many use backup, and if the backup is cloud-based.
Gregg Kail consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
