The first T-Mobile Sidekick debuted in 2002. It featured a 240x160-pixel, 4-bit monochrome display and was touted as a BlackBerry for the masses. The handheld provided real-time e-mail and instant messaging but lacked a speakerphone.

When were Sidekick invented?

Now, when the original version launched back in 2002 under the brand name Sidekick, the top selling phone in the world that year was this, the Nokia 6100.

Why did sidekicks get discontinued?

Microsoft bought Danger Inc. ... As the physical keyboard became less useful, the Sidekick brand went through its biggest change in 2010: T-Mobile announced that it was dropping Danger's data service. So, Danger turned off its servers, and older Sidekicks that relied on their data centers were rendered useless.