Peek: the handheld that does e-mail, and only e-mail

by Darren Murph posted Aug 20th 2008 at 5:29PM

Ready for some excitement in the form of watching a startup squirm as it waits for its product to gain traction? Take a glance at Peek, which is churning out a dedicated handheld that handles e-mail, a few chain forwards, and more e-mails when you're done with that. At first glance, one may consider such a one-trick-pony quite ridiculous, but it's hard to say what will end up catching on these days. The biggest problem facing Peek is the pricing: it'll be $99.95 up front when it lands in Target next month, plus $19.95 per month to send unlimited e-mails over T-Mobile's network. Of course, if anyone figures out how to load Opera Mini up here, the Bulls-eye Shop won't be able to keep the shelves stocked.

[Via Silicon Alley Insider]

Filed under: Handsets, Messaging, Others, T-Mobile

Tags: e-mail, e-mail handheld, E-mailHandheld, email, messaging, peek, startup, t-mobile, target

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

plh2034 @ Aug 20th 2008 5:55PM

Reminds me of the time 2-way pagers came out.
Problem was cell phones could already text.

Neutral

Jeff @ Aug 20th 2008 5:57PM

sounds kinda stupid to me

Neutral

chuck @ Aug 20th 2008 6:17PM

That pricing is pretty ridiculous considering any current T-Mobile customer can get a full data plan, with hotspots included, for an extra $19.99/month. And 3g soon, too. I'd be surprised if this off-brand thing even has edge, but then again, I guess it doesn't matter that much if all you can do is send emails.

Neutral

Ojas Shah @ Aug 20th 2008 7:10PM

price should cheaper...not quite sure why any one would want this....

Neutral

Trevor @ Aug 20th 2008 9:08PM

Sounds like they couldn't get the price down, at $49, these things would be selling like crazy, at $99, it's gonna sit on the shelves

Neutral

Eric @ Aug 20th 2008 10:04PM

I was thinking $25 for the device and $5.00 monthly (or free co-marketed with a broadband provider).

Neutral

coziamnumber1 @ Aug 20th 2008 10:11PM

Honestly, I think if marketed correctly, It could be a hot seller. Think of it as a less cool blackberry with no contract.

Neutral

Ian @ Aug 21st 2008 12:05AM

Didnt AT&T try this already years ago with Ogo, if my memory serves correctly, the rate plan for that was some where around 12 bucks or something to that effect. I think it has a small chance of succeeding depending on the user. If it can at least surf the mobile web and include major instant messaging clients at a price of 19.95 a month, and maybe a little video and audio playback, i would definitely bite. Only device that comes to mind right now is that Nokia N810 or that thing by Sony, but they are just WiFi only i believe

Neutral

jtmoney @ Aug 22nd 2008 4:39PM

Word. Then use Skype for calls. Airtime is overrated anyway.

Neutral

Todd @ Aug 21st 2008 2:07AM

way way too much money. make this thing affordable to kids and let er' rip.

Neutral

Some Guy On the Internet @ Aug 21st 2008 5:03AM

Almost an amazing idea. Its Just too limited. However, if this device did 3 things.

IM: push, always on, logs server side.

Email. Imap, exchange, push global or individual inbox and as many send server as you like.

A Super Browsers, not like safari, more like skyfire, almost all the work done server side, tons of compression.

Take everything else out, camera, maps, stocks, weather, dancing...forget the rest of it. Just give it edge, but top end edge, so you are actually getting 384kbps, not 150kbps, and 3 weeks battery life on standby and the guarantee that it "just works." no restarting, or crashing or whatever else. Uptime and no thought.

You can keep all the apps in memory, three dedicated app buttons and a keyboard/touchscreen combo for browsing and editing, nothing else.

I think that is what they were going for and just feel short of the mark.

Neutral