Peek, the tiny non-smartphone smartphone dedicated to email and messaging, is now available at Blockbuster stores across the nation. Peek buyers will also receive one month free of Blockbuster Total Access, a Netflix-like service that lets you rent DVDs and BR disks by mail or in-store. You can also refer a friend and get a $15 Blockbuster gift card.
The Pronto costs $59.99 with $14.99/month service. The Classic costs $19.99.
In related news, it seems the company has created a new version of the hardware with dedicated Twitter access. We’ve seen images of the box, above, and we’re asking for more info right now.
Peek is a great device. The service plan is simply too pricey.
Agreed — I think if they could somehow manage to get the service down to $10/month, these things would fly off the shelves. But I tried one out for a bit, and the hardware is indeed excellent. And in general I’m all for nice 3g-hardware that does not involve a phone number attached…
But is it compatible with http://www.f2bbs.com ?
Wow! I was really excited when I saw a preview of this and when I saw the reasonable price of $50! I was about to go out and buy one UNTIL I read about the $15 a month charges. What a waste I can get twitter on my phone for that price and my device can do so much more than tweeting and e-mail. Whatever hopefully something better will come out soon.
no pricing on the twitter version yet. I’m figuring it out.
also curious, is the twitter version going to have the email functionality and vice versa? it would make more sense that way, so I’d assume its the same pricing structure as their other products. It’d be weird if you could twitter but not email from one product, and email but not tweet from the other.
Last I spoke with the PR folks over at Peek, they had said that the Twitter and Facebook features would be free. All those features simply work through special email addresses, so you just will probably need to add them to your address book. Also if you send you device in, they usually will do a software upgrade for you!
http://skattertech.com/2009/07/peek-pronto-review/
I believe most data plans are well above the $15 a month that Peek is looking for here, no?
I don’t think they are targeting smart phone users as much as they are folks who have either an inexpensive phone-only plan or prepaid, which is a pretty big market. T/C readers are likely not who they are aiming for here…
Do people still go to Blockbuster?? A dying brick-and-mortar dvd store seems like an odd choice for marketing an Internet device.
Unless it has a web browser, then no deal. I came to this page via twitter, it’s all I use it for. Give me a web browser and we have a deal.
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Looks like Peek really dropped the ball on this one.
Here’s the product on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/TwitterPeek-Mobile-Tweeting-Service-Included/dp/B002R5AG4Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1256680314&sr=8-2-catcorr
It appears to only do Twitter, for $8/mo. I’d have happy ponied up the cash for one of these had it included the standard e-mail and text messaging, too (a la the Pronto, for example).
What would really be ideal is for them to come out with one of these that does SMS, e-mail, Twitter, and the major IM services for $20/mo…
There are some practical uses for such a device and to be honest most of the individuals reading this particular article likely fall just outside of their target market.
Any well versed marketer would shed light on the fact that they are marketing and positioning the product to those that prefer month to month subscriptions over contracts. They are also catering to those that may have a cell phone but the data plans are too pricey OR not provided (not all carriers have data plans/technology in place).
For those in the social technologies, brand management, and social media marketing space this would be a great tool to have for brand monitoring and/or updating the companies/brand twitter stream. Imagine you could assign one of these to one of your brand managers or marketing professionals so that they can access this information (a) Without the company committing to a nationwide carrier and (b) without having to reimburse an employee for the data used on their personal devices. No one calls the brand manager directly but we all know there is an individual on the other end of most branded tweet. There are some other practical uses but that’s just a couple of ideas.
On a personal note; as an entrepreneur it also doesn’t hurt that this service is seperate from my cell phone because it makes writing it off that much easier.
Just a few thoughts.
A well informed marketer would know people are looking to carry fewer devices, with higher integration and more features, not more devices with each limited to one or two functions.
I havn’t sept inside a Blockbuster in AGES! The Peek is a really great device if they would only add more features to it like a WEB BROWSER then I’d get this device.
After seeing the amazon link I’m not 100% sure what the usage of a Twitter only mobile device would really be. I love Twitter and all but not that much.
Every time I hear about Peek I think of NetZero. Think about it…
I am surprised by this article from reading blockbuster is still in business and growing! The two blockbusters near me went out of business :(
One of the worst technology products ever. They are trying to aim this towards the non-tech savvy people who don’t even NEED email on the go. This seems like a product only technology geeks with money to burn would buy.
yah, great. no need for those annoying voice conversations anymore.
wow Amazon has the Normal pronto with LIFE TIME service for $299!!!!
so you are only pay $250 for life time service not bad if you keep the device over a year and half so will start saving you over the regular plan
I would want this, but I’m looking instead at their other device: the PEEK PRONTO which does email and texting but it’s mostly for email. But I would use it with Twitter also but that is Twitter via Email using Nutshellmail (for receiving my main Twitter timeline but it probably won’t do lists at this time) and Ping.fm for sending my tweets via email. The PEEK PRONTO is available for a lesser price but you have the monthly subscription. Or you can get the $299 version and not pay the monthly for the “LIFETIME” of the device. When they say “LIFETIME” that’s for the life of the device. So if you can get the device to last for several years, then you got a good buy. So don’t break the Peek and don’t lose the Peek.
For those others reading this, if you have an iPhone or a Blackberry already, please don’t look down on this because these PEEK devices are not for you. These PEEK devices are for other people who want something that doesn’t cost as much as what you have to pay every month for service on an iPhone or a Blackberry. This is for other people who are willing to have a second device to go along with the humdrum cellphone that they are happy with. And this is for people who are tired for paying too much every month that they pay on service for an iPhone or a Blackberry or some other smart phone or data phone service.
Srsly…wtf am I missing? My cell phone does that and a billion things more for about the same price. This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen, so I’m really confused by all the positive comments. What is the use case for a device that does less than 10% of what an average smart phone does unless it’s practically free?
Umm Your missing allot. See your cellphone cost $$$$ every month. You can get the peek for 299 NO MONTHLY CONTRACT. So for people who just want email, SMS it works out real nicely for them.
I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to have an mp3 player that can tweet and email and junk that isn’t an iPod Touch. Haha, perhaps one day Peek will add that and we’ll all go “What.”