The History of the Sidekick: The Coolest Smartphone of All Time
The revolution started with a kick.
At the turn of the millennium, we communicated with friends and high school crushes after class by way of desktops and house phones. The cell phone was still more corporate than it was cool. Palm Pilots, Nokias, Blackberrys, Motorola two-way pagers, and Razrs were the rage then—but the companies behind them weren’t concerned with marketing to young people, the ones who’d surf Yahoo! and AIM chat rooms on a dial-up connected desktop before thinking of saving up their lunch money for a device geared toward the business-centric.
Things changed when three former Apple employees formed Danger Research Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif., in early 2000. The Danger founders, Andy Rubin, Matt Hershenson, and Joe Britt, wanted to create an “end-to-end wireless Internet solution focused on affordability and great user experience.” How they were going to do that was a mystery then, because they weren’t sure how they were going to do it. But with mystery, comes hype. After securing $11 million in funding near the end of 2000, it was revealed: The company created what was essentially a miniature computer that fit on your hip. They called it the Hiptop, naturally. You might know it as the Sidekick.
Continue Reading On Complex
