T-Mobile Sidekick Owners Start Seeing Some of Their Data Restored
May Be Some Time Before More Than Contact List Information to Appear Again
Yesterday, Microsoftposted a link to a data recovery tool that let T-MobileSidekick owners begin recovering lost information from the data meltdown that started on the 2nd of October.
Microsoft said in its releases that:
"The Danger / Microsoft team continues to work around the clock and has completed its latest round of rigorous tests. We are now ready to make the first phase of the content restoration process available to you, starting with personal contacts. ...This tool will enable you to view the contacts you had on your device as of October 1. With a few clicks and a confirmation, you will be able to restore these contacts to your Sidekick. ...We're making solid progress on the next phase in this restoration process, including your photographs, notes, to-do lists, marketplace data and high scores."
According to various reports, the process of restoring more than contact information will take at least another week, if not longer.
Microsoft - as has T-Mobile - keeps insisting that the lost data issues affect only a "minority of customers," but they both steadfastly refuse to say exactly how many customers make up this minority.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmersaid that the Sidekick episode was "not good" and that the company would have to earn back the trust of Sidekick users.
He didn't say anything about winning back the trust of T-Mobile.
T-Mobile still is not selling any new Sidekick phones, and hasn't yet announced when it will again. Doesn't seem like a lot of trust exists in the T-Mobile/Microsoft/Danger relationship yet.
And finally, T-Mobile apparently hasn't won any friends in their approach to dealing with customers over the fiasco either.
Looks like a great business opportunity for all those trust-building consultants out there.
Robert N. Charette is a Contributing Editor to IEEE Spectrum and an acknowledged international authority on information technology and systems risk management. A self-described “risk ecologist,” he is interested in the intersections of business, political, technological, and societal risks. Charette is an award-winning author of multiple books and numerous articles on the subjects of risk management, project and program management, innovation, and entrepreneurship. A Life Senior Member of the IEEE, Charette was a recipient of the IEEE Computer Society’s Golden Core Award in 2008.