Oops- Bad Day For Microsoft (And Cloud) Following T-Mobile Sidekick Snafu

By Chad Berndtson, ChannelWeb

9:20 AM EDT Mon. Oct. 12, 2009 Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) and T-Mobile have egg on their faces and it's another dark day for cloud-based services following word from T-Mobile that users of Sidekick -- the T-Mobile smartphone that gets software and online services through Microsoft's Danger subsidiary -- would not be able to recover personal data following a week's worth of Sidekick service outages.

T-Mobile confirmed over the weekend that user data such as contacts, stored photos and other information is probably gone forever, due to a technical glitch with Microsoft's servers. In a message posted to its Web site Saturday, T-Mobile admitted that any data not stored locally on users' Sidekicks has "almost certainly" been lost.

"Our teams continue to work around the clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information," wrote T-Mobile in the statement. "However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low."

T-Mobile didn't confirm how many of the 1 million or so Sidekick users have lost data in the outage. A T-Mobile spokesman told The Wall Street Journal that "we don't think it's a majority of the customers." A Microsoft spokeswoman further told the newspaper that it is an "extraordinary situation" and that Microsoft and T-Mobile "understand that and are working to do everything they can for customers."