7. Microsoft and Danger Mobile

Danger Inc, a company better known for its mobile messaging device called the T-Mobile Sidekick which was also called the Danger Hiptop, was bought by Microsoft in 2008 for an undisclosed amount. After the merger all of its employees were put to work for Microsoft’s Mobile Communications Business.

In 2009, Danger suffered a catastrophic data loss which resulted in total business continuity failure at one of its data centers. It took over two months to recover from. This resulted in a loss in consumer confidence in the products and the company had to cancel the product in 2010.

In April 2010, the company launched Microsoft Kin which was heavily criticized for not having key features such as IM, Calendaring and GPS. Within 48 days, the product was pulled back.

But the damage has been done and Microsoft has still not recovered from the loss in trust with the consumers. We can only hope that the recent Windows Phones will work.