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Hiptop arrives: Europe in Danger of yet one more all-in-one data centre

Resistance is crumbling to the idea that people actually want email on a mobile device - and the Danger-designed HipTop device, now launching into Europe, is one of the reasons for this awareness - perhaps even more than the RIM Blackberry was - in the US

It isn't a PDA; it isn't a phone, and it isn't a portable Web browser, though it works pretty well as any of those; it's an "end-to-end solution" says Hank Nothhaft, CEO of Danger.

The main difference between the machine sold as the Sidekick by T-Mobile in the US, and the machine now being launched into Europe, is colour. Nothhaft is trying to keep it a low-key crusade, because it's not ready to launch back in America - not until stocks of the monochrome one fall anyway - but it is nothing more than a GPRS machine, with voice and storage; its biggest competition probably comes from things like the Orange SPV or the Treo. But it is, says Nothhaft, considerably cheaper to build, and far quicker to use.

His claims are based on the fact that the HipTop technology isn't unique to the GSM community; it's a design that "grew out of the WebTV project, which the founders of Danger sold to Microsoft, and then moved on to do this."

What he's looking for, however, is not for you and me to buy one.

Rather, he'd like to see someone like one of the big phone makers take it on, or perhaps even one of the big carriers - and these are the people he's showing it to in Europe.

Frankly, the most interesting thing about the device is the speed with which it access normal Web pages - like all multi-function devices, it's really too big to be a neat phone, and the qwerty keyboard is too small to be a serious data entry device. What makes it unique is the fact that it's not a standalone device, nor a phone-carrier device; it keeps all its data on the Danger servers - in America - and does its transactions on a client-server basis with that centre.

The result is that Web pages can be optimised, on the server, for the small device. In our brief demonstration, we didn't have time to assess just which Web sites were easily or accurately accessible like this; but the advantage of a landscape-oriented screen can be easily seen in our picture. And the data is then heavily compressed at Danger's end, making download times very short. It is quite usable as a portable Web browser, and excellent as a mobile email package.

What it doesn't have, yet, is the ability to synchronise with Outlook - that's on the way (a third party) and it doesn't have Bluetooth, which it really needs if it's to be used as a phone. And of course, it's quite a nice games platform - all Java based. As a PDA, it has the advantage of being always up to date; all data is synchronised with the Danger servers over the air. Obviously, this means that the cost of running one will depend enormously on what sort of contract the operators offer with it. We'll review it, as soon as we get one (possibly around CeBIT time).

In two weeks, Danger will release the software developer kit (SDK) and within six months (we'd bet within two) the colour machine will be sold. But Danger will make no money out of sales of HipTops; it is a software company, and is interested in finding people who will build it.

Current models are built by Flextronics; watch this space for news of who will take it on in Europe.

Comments? Mail me at guy@kewney.com or phone 020 8809 0492 in the UK (+44) area.