• October 15, 2009

Microsoft said Thursday it has been able to recover most, if not all, of the customer data that T-Mobile Sidekick users had lost in a recent service outage. The company announced previously that customers' contacts, photos and other personal data had most likely been wiped out.

Microsoft, whose Danger subsidiary powers data service on the device, said it will begin restoring users' data as soon as possible, starting with personal contacts, once data has been validated.

"We will then continue to work around the clock to restore data to all affected users, including calendar, notes, tasks, photographs and high scores, as quickly as possible," wrote Roz Ho, Microsoft's corporate vice president for premium mobile experiences, in an online post.

The company said it believed only a minority of users had been affected by the outage caused by a system failure that "created data loss in the core database and the back-up." The announcement may ease customer ire somewhat, but it comes too late to stop T-Mobile and Microsoft from being hit with class actions in connection with the Sidekick debacle. --Mark Walsh