An Unexpected Kick for Sidekick Gadget Lovers

It's the nightmare any mobile gadget user has at some point: you turn on that smart sleek device and find all your contacts, saved data and necessary information is gone, gone, gone.

That happened this weekend to T-Mobile Sidekick users. As AP reported today, a server failure wiped out user data that were stored in the cloud operated by the wireless carrier. Initial glitches with the phones were cited and some users, in an attempt to figure out what was wrong, removed the battery which erases data stored on the device. When the users then reconnected, and went to the data well to restore and copy back the info, well, it just wasn't there any more.

Writer Peter Sevvsson reported that it was unknown how many Sidekick users have been impacted by the server stumble.

In a forum blog post published Saturday on the incident, T-Mobile apologized to users and then provided an update that further investigation has revealed that the data is very likely lost for good.

"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. 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."

It promised to provide an update today, and advises users not to let the battery go low or be removed in the meantime.

It's a pretty good bet that T-Mobile, which scored pretty high on a wireless customer care survey just this past August, might not collect such great user feedback next time around.

But as my mother used to tell me, you can learn from every disaster and every dark cloud has a silver lining, though you might have to look hard. In this case, the dark cloud and data loss serves as a notice to anyone using a smartphone like a PC and who has never thought about backing up data and contact information stored on that cute little device.

It's also a major heads up to other smartphone users, such as Palm's Pre, which also uses the Web and cloud computing to store users' important information, to check that their data is safe and accessible.

And it's a reminder that no technology is perfect yet.

I could go on offering up some other "good" things that comes from T-Mobile's glitch but I need to jot down the contact information in my handy little mobile device and check with my wireless carrier on the status of my data.

Photo courtesy of T-Mobile