Been eyeing that Slide? Well, if you’re in Australia and on Telstra, you better hurry. You have a week left before they stop selling the Sidekick Hiptop Slide. September 30th will be the last day that new customers can sign up for Hiptop service or buy a Hiptop Slide.

Thanks Shannon

ok, excitement asside, i have just travelled down to one of my telstra dealers as i said i would in my last post…

i strolled in and wondered over to the hiptop display and picked it up, having a squiz more or less, when a strapping young lad asked if i needed any assistance.
so i decided not to piss fart around and i got straight into it; “hiptop ‘09 blade” i said, “do you know anything about it?”
to which he positively responded with a “why yes i do”…
i continued with a few basic questions about it:
- is it definitely coming to australia?
YES
- when is it coming out?
Around June/July ish, around the time the new iPhone is released (rivals much??)
- will it still be a $30 plan??
he didn’t confirm this, however he said that that was the main reason it was such a popular phone so he said he believed it would continue this tradition.

that pretty much concluded our chat. and i was happy with the information. (i couldn’t believe it, telstra ACTUALLY knew what they were talking about for once!!)

so there we have it, i hope the info i got is of use to you!!

keep in mind i am in australia, so this only applies to the aussies sorry to those in america still searching for information!!

and yes, i know you may be suspicious about this email but all i can do is give you the information telstra gave me which is legit.
any questions just email back.

He also mentioned in comments that he emailed Telstra, but they’re tight-lipped and said they won’t be carrying the Blade. So take it for what it’s worth. For what it’s worth, a release date of June/July sounds possible, whereas the April 1st guess is looking less and less likely.

Here, you might want this.

Thanks Stevo!

We got the above screenshot in our email. According to the sender and the contents, it appears to be a memo to a Telstra Manager talking about the plans for the “Hiptop LX 2009“. (The Sidekick is marketed as the Hiptop in non-T-Mobile markets) It says that the 2009 was supposed to be release early this year, but is delayed due to “software compatibility issues” and the necessary repackaging for it to say Hiptop/Telstra instead of Sidekick/T-Mobile. The email goes on to say that they expect these delays will “be resolved in the March/April period” and that more info will be sent out then. It mentions that Telstra is going to release the Sidekick 2009 before T-Mobile, much like the Sidekick Slide was released.

We’re filing this under “we hope it’s true” but are very very skeptical. The proof is lacking in context and easily replicated. Just grab a Telstra logo off the web, type up some text, slap it together in Microsoft Word, and save as a PDF. So, if there are any Australian readers out there that can get us more info, please do so! We’d love to hear that this is a worldwide release.

UPDATE: If you’re looking to just download Sidekick ringtones for the Sidekick LX 2009, you can get them over at Skringers.com!

Update: We’ve been told the Hiptop Slide actually was available at the beginning of November, so go get yours now!

It appears as if Telstra Mobile is also in the process of testing and getting ready to release the Zante down under.

Unconfirmed reports of Telstra trying to push out all remaining stock of Hiptop 3’s to make way for the new device, and a Mid November release date. Also unconfirmed reports of the Hiptop LX making an appearance down under sometime in December have trickled in via email.

Thanks to all who sent this in

View more photos.