On Monday Engadget published J.D. Lasica’s excellent interview with Hank Nothhaft, CEO of Danger, Inc.. Danger is the manufacturer of the T-Mobile Sidekick II, which is about to be released.
The most interesting aspect of the Danger Hiptop / T-Mobile Sidekick story, from my perspective, has been the fact that the company has approached the market from a wireless data perspective (instant messaging, wireless web browsing, and email) and has managed to connect with a young audience. A lot of people who watch this market professionally think that a device with the feature set of the T-Mobile Sidekick II will only appeal to corporate users. This interview definitely suggests that there is a measurable market for integrated communication devices that are not Blackberries or Treos. Congratulations T-Mobile for giving the first-generation Hiptop an opportunity to find its audience.
There are a number of truly surprising insights in this interview, including:
- “The people who are using IM on these devices are sending and receiving 110 instant messages a day. They�re also doing 25-30 emails a day, and they�re accessing 25 web pages a day. We also support SMS on this, and have a range of around 4 SMS messages a day.”
- “Even though we�re 1 percent of T-Mobile�s installed base right now, we generate 10 percent of their data revenue.”
Since I first got a Treo 180, I’ve been using my mobile phone more for data access than voice anyway. I’ve got to get a T-Mobile Sidekick II and give it a try. [ via Slashdot ]