T-Mobile has confirmed that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is ending Danger’s cloud services starting on May 31st. If you are using a Sidekick, then you will need a new phone. T-Mobile said that they are providing offers “to help make an easy transition.” Below is a statement from T-Mobile about the Sidekick:

Starting today T-Mobile is discontinuing sales of the Sidekick. This means that the Sidekick LX 2009 will not be available for purchase going forward. Sidekicks were developed by Danger Inc., which ended up being acquired by Microsoft. This is the second line of phones associated with Microsoft that has been ceased this week, the first being the Kin. Sidekick fans should not be discouraged because T-Mobile said that they are working “on the next chapter of [its] storied Sidekick franchise.” T-Mobile owns the Sidekick brand. Rumor has it that they plan to use Android for the next line of Sidekicks. [Engadget]

Microsoft has announced two new mobile phones: the Kin One (pictured left) and the Kin Two (pictured right). The introduction of the two new phones is the outcome of what Microsoft had in mind when they acquired Sidekick manufacturing company Danger.

This past October many Sidekick users lost their data temporarily. This include contacts, pictures, downloads, etc. This led to several people suing Danger Inc., T-Mobile, and Microsoft Corporation (the owner of Danger). Since the time of that incident, Sidekicks were pulled from the shelves and were no longer being sold. This week Danger, T-Mobile, and Microsoft have started selling the Sidekick phones once again.

For those who were not able to access their data, T-Mobile offered them $100 gift cards. Sidekicks were slightly cheaper when they started selling again this week. The high-end LX model of the Sidekick was priced at $175, now it is priced at $175.

When a Sidekick’s battery dies, all personal data could be lost which is uncommon from many other phones. But Microsoft servers are able to restore that data. After the servers went down in October, any Sidekicks that had a dead battery had a higher chance of losing data.

Many people have lost data as the result of a Danger Inc. server outage. Danger Inc. is the manufacturing company behind Sidekick devices and is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Two lawsuits have been filed at the federal court in Northern California this past Wednesday. The outage caused many Sidekick users to lose their address books, calendars, and contacts.

Microsoft and T-Mobile indicated last week that the data might be permanently lost. However on Monday night the companies announced that some people may be able to get their information back. One of the lawsuits claims that Microsoft and Danger did not take reasonable care of the data and indicated that the Sidekick was falsely advertised.

One of the prosecutors is Maureen Thompson. Thompson’s daughter is an aspiring model and songwriter that uses the phone to store personal and business contacts. She also used the phone for storing music lyrics that are not saved anywhere else. Thompson bought the phone because T-Mobile promised that the data would be protected no matter what.

“Further complicating the data loss is the fact that Sidekicks, unlike iPhones, BlackBerrys and other smartphones, are not designed to sync locally with a user’s personal computer without additional software and hardware,” stated the filed lawsuit. “This means that most users were not able to backup their data locally, but were encouraged and required to rely on Microsoft/Danger.”

T-Mobile announced last night that they may have a chance to retrieve data that was lost on Sidekick devices. The data loss was originally caused by a server failure by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) subsidiary Danger Inc. “Recent efforts indicate the prospects of recovering some lost content may now be possible,” stated a report by T-Mobile.

For those of you whose data is permanently lost, there will be a $100 customer appreciation card towards T-Mobile products or services. The customers that have lost data will be notified in the next 14 days whether that can be any retrieval. T-Mobile and Danger worked diligently throughout the work-day yesterday to retrieve the data.

During the Sidekick’s instability period, T-Mobile halted the sales of the device. While Danger and T-Mobile worked on restoring the servers, Sidekick users were encouraged not to take out the battery from the device or reset it.

The zombie kid isn’t the only one that likes turtles. Microsoft does too. At least that is what the Project Pink phone prototypes indicate. Above are the first screenshots of the devices, called the Turtle and the Pure.

The Turtle and the Pure phones will be made by Sharp. Sharp was the company behind the Sidekick hardware, made by Danger. Danger is a telecommunications company that Microsoft bought a couple of years ago for $500 million. Rumor also has it that the Turtle and the Pure will have their own app store and will complement the Zune.

In the midst of making an offer to Yahoo! for $44.6 billion, Microsoft also announced yesterday that they acquired Danger Inc.  GigaOM reported that the acquisition price was $500 million.  Coincidentally, Danger Inc. was co-founded by Andy Rubin.  Rubin was ousted as CEO of Danger, so he started Android Inc. which was acquired by Google.  Through the acquisition of Android, Rubin became Director of Mobile Platforms at Google.  And Google announced plans for launching Google Android for free to many phone manufacturers. 

Google Android is a Linux-based open source operating system. 

Microsoft’s acquisition of Danger Inc. symbolizes the potential strategies they have for seizing market-share in the telecommunications industry.  Windows Mobile operating systems are the standard in many Smart Phones now, but that’s clearly not enough for the software giant.  Danger Inc. innovated and manufactures the Sidekick.  Having this phone became viral quickly and was distributed through T-Mobile.

“Microsoft is a global leader with our Windows Mobile software and expanding mobile services,” stated Robbie Bach, President of the Entertainment/Devices Division at Microsoft. “The addition of Danger serves as a perfect complement to our existing software and services, and also strengthens our dedication to improving mobile experiences centered around individuals and what they like.”

Danger Inc. previously raised roughly $225 million (45% of their acquisition price).