DANGER DETOURED

Danger Inc. broke its promise last week to have its HipTop smart phones in the hands of consumers by summer, but it has not abandoned its intentions to accomplish what other handheld companies have been unable to do: win over consumers with a combination phone/e-mail reader/Internet access device.

The company is focusing on the consumer market because it has been largely ignored, said John Arledge, Danger's vice president of business development. “There is a huge focus on the enterprise among hardware-centric companies, and we are not in the hardware business,” he said.

T-Mobile, formerly VoiceStream, is the first carrier to offer the device, priced at $199 and rebranded as SideKick.

Still, skeptics say targeting consumers is a mistake. “There will need to be some flashy marketing because there has not been a flood of consumers rushing out for this kind of device yet,” said Ken Smiley, an analyst with Giga Information Group.

Danger claims its success is not dependent on trying to build relationships directly with the end users, Arledge said.

“We rely on the carriers to do what they do best: to market to a broad range of customers,” he said.