Peek finds that Costco customers greatly prefer lifetime subscriptions
By Darren Murph 
posted March 5th 2009 9:19PM
posted March 5th 2009 9:19PM
posted March 5th 2009 9:19PM
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Now someone just has to hack it so that we can tether our laptops...
Wait a second- a one-time sale isn't a sustainable business model ? I'll let the electronics hardware manufacturers know that they should declare bankruptcy because they don't have a "business SUSTAINABLE MODEL". Products- who sells those things anymore? No, services must be the only sustainable model that could possibly exist.
So iGoon, are you the new iEye, but with maniacal, unfunny, unsolicited bouts of insane laughter?
That depends on the cost of providing the wireless service. If they can get people to change devices every couple years, why can't they make money?
It's nice to see people are doing some simple math before purchases.
The only bad thing (except from iGoon's comment hijacking), is that the lifetime subscription isn't for as long as you live, it's for as long as the company lives.
That said, I quite like the Peek. Good idea for a product. If they'd have sealed international support and created some kick-ass email software, it could have changed email for good.
For 400 bucks you should get Kindle 2. Free wireless on that, plus some browsing thrown in and Eye-strainless reading. $400 is just crazy for that device.
I agree. I mean you must HAVE to have your email if you pay 400 bucks for this thing which means you're a business man which means you already have a Blackberry.
Well. It makes more sense if you can give it to your Gramms (admittedly, after handing one for about a week, she'd need some powerful glasses) and she'd never have to worry about paying service charges.
for the total of 10 units sold, 7 are for lifetime subscription, which lasts as long as this company can stay in business during this recession...
So kinda like Sirius/XM lifetime subscriptions...
these are stupid
Peek sucks. I had the device, Emails came hours after they were sent. I canceled the second day I had the service and returned the device. In order to get a refund for the first month you actually have to email David Madden. Thought I was through with them and they kept charging me for 3 months. Took another 2 days of phone calls to get it canceled and refunded.
As far as I can tell, the Peek service polls the account for new email every few minutes and then your device polls the server every few minutes for new emails. It's not exactly push technology. This results in as much as 20 minutes delay in my experience, but it's usually under 10 minutes. This is not terrific technology, but it does what it does. Most people do not use email as a synchronous mode of communication anyway.
I agree with the strategy. Psychologically a one-time hit is preferable to looking at your monthly expenses then saying 'I am paying as much for this as I am for my water bill per month?' Its easier to spend the money before it gets burned up by something else rather than add even more to your future monthly bills.
I would much rather spend the extra 15 bucks a month on my phone bill for unlimited internet on my Touch diamond. But maybe that's because i don't like to waste money. Unlike those Costco shoppers apparently.
This has to be one of the dumber purchases I've ever seen. So everyone and their grandmother has a cellular phone and for $30 a month you can add unlimited 3G data on any carrier in the US. But instead you get this thing for $44 plus monthly fees? Why not just get a smartphone and only have to worry about charging (and carrying) one device? Heck, you'll even get Internet access thrown in for nothing.
The only numbskull I can see purchasing this is someone who is under an existing contract and not willing to pay to upgrade their phone.
Peeks are what they are. They can be handy if you carry a dumbphone or if you prefer not to carry a phone at all and want to SMS everyone. The Peek's quite good at that, if that's your taste. And there are times when it's simply more convenient to check e-mail on something other than your cell phone or your PC.
The Peek-for-life deal is also a bit more disingenuous than the simple description that Engadget gave. It's not "pay $400 and get a lifelong Peek account." Instead, it's "Pay $400 and you will get connectivity for the life of the current piece of hardware that you just purchased." Think Tivo, not pager company, as a business model. With the faintest rumors of updated Peek hardware coming out in late 2009 or 2010 (assuming the company stays in business), those lifetime connectivity deals may end up being nothing but profit to Peek when version 1.0 hardware gets tossed in a drawer and never used again. Or if someone drops their Peek and it breaks. Or if a Peek gets lost or stolen. Tying pre-paid service to a specific piece of hardware is actually a pretty savvy business strategy.
You work for Peek?
he didn't *peek* my interest...
Wow, lots of Peek haters on here. Not I.
I took advantage of the one-day sale and got my girlfriend a Peek for V-Day. Rationale for dropping the $299? The economics work out pretty good for me, if I consider that she'll use the device for over one year. Since then the price drops mean she'll have to use it for about 15 months for it to be net positive.
But most of the comments are for why get a Peek at all? Well, she's an email addict. She doesn't have a Blackberry since work looked to cut costs and upgrading her personal cell above the basic voice plan to a Blackberry plan is at least $30/month more than she currently pays. Plus, she's not looking to get a Blackberry. She likes her dead simple phone. She loves her dead simple Peek.
Personally, I could never see myself using the service - it can't do the most basic web browsing to get sports scores or weather. It can't install an IM client. It can't get stock quotes. Can you tell I'm a Blackberry user yet? It's not for me. The company recognizes that - it's only for dead simple email.
Next person on my Peek list? My dad. A former businessman (retired) who carried a Blackberry for years and is starting to use personal email to communicate more and more. We he goes on personal trips, he'll be able to avoid bringing the computer and instead just pack the Peek. Are my girlfriend and dad tech revolutionaries? Absolutely wrong end of the curve, actually, but they're definite Peek users.
I understand what you're saying but I disagree. What is tough about operating email on an iPhone? Or a BlackBerry? Is you girlfriend blond or what?
Same comment re your Dad. You don't think he can operate an iPhone? He doesn't want access to all the apps that are dead simple to use?
What is so tough about using an iPhone or Blackberry?
For one thing, their data plans are more expensive than the Peek's $16
For another, I like simple and elegant devices. I personally do not like the pseudo keyboard on the iPhone. I do not want to have an AT&T voice plan. It is cheaper for me to have a monthly paid tmobile plan with no data services, and a Peek.
You should break up with your girlfriend and your dad for not jumping on the tech bandwagon.
You're haters are just jealous that he's saying he has a girlfriend... that likes gadgets.
@ my_ebiz
And pay $30 more per month just to receive email? The Peek + lifetime service ($299) pays for itself after 12 months. Not everyone needs/wants a smartphone
I don't need one. But for some reason I want one.
That comment sums up pretty much all my tech buying. :-)
Wow, 70% of 10!
Wait, they sell these at Costco? I go there all the time and haven't seen a single one. Not that I'd ever buy one.
I just bought one today from target. Its a neat little device but I cant see myself using it for too long. Once my cell contract runs out in a couple of months, I will be getting a smartphone and probably cancel the peek service. But for the time being its fine.
So What does it do??
As Of What i Know... E-mail and ???
Is there SMS and IM? or what? anything else? or just plain-ol' email?
is this thing ever gonna do IM's?!
When I saw the first mention of the Peek on engadget about a month or so ago, I thought it was a silly device. I got one for $50 on a sale, and have been using it for a few weeks now, and it really is a great device. If you buy service in a 3 month block in only costs $16 a month. I pay $15 for unlimited text messaging and email on my cell phone. (It does NOT cost $30 or $40 a month.) The software on the Peek has been updated, and the current version, 1.08 is faster than the version about which some people in this thread have complained. Version 1.09 of the software is going to have push email. That means no more email polling, but fast fast email. The $400 deal is actually a GREAT marketing model. What is the lifetime of a piece of cellular based hardware? About two years? The free service is for the lifetime of that piece of hardware. If you buy a Peek for $400, take $50 for the Peek, that means that remaining $350. At about $16 a month, that is 21 months prepaid. During that 21 months, other people will see the Peek and then buy it at the regular price. That life time deal ends up being active advertising. After 21 months, a new version of the Peek will be out, or at 21 months that Peek will get lost or damaged. The life time deal is for the device not the human purchaser.
Ok, I do carry around two devices, a Motorola V195s (t-mobile) and a Peek. But, it is cheaper than if I had a Blackberry or iPhone. Before you reject the Peek based upon a few articles, and the opinions of people who have never used it, you really have to try the device. www.getpeek.com
(I do not work for Peek, although I wish I did.)
For any businesses or individuals trying to reason through buying one of these... here are some thoughts to ponder...
I don't understand why anyone would buy one of these when they could just get a multifunctional phone (AT&T Fuze, Blackberry, iPhone, etc.) that does everything for less money. I understand you can get lifetime email with the Peek (with no monthly fees) and yada yada yada, but email is all it does.
Wouldn't it be smarter to have a phone that has a much better screen, much greater memory and processing power, and can handle email, IM, messaging of all kinds, GPS, WiFi, BT, taking photos and videos, internet, photos, music, movies, radio (perhaps), TV (with a slingbox or through your carrier), computing tasks, AND work as a phone? With a new contract, you can get an AT&T Fuze, for example, from Amazon for $175. And if you don't want to do ALL those things I mentioned, you don't have to... just do a few things - phone, email, and a bit of messaging.
Most people who have a device like the Peek, are going to have a mobile phone, too, and will be paying a monthly fee for that service, anyway. So the only service fee on top of that to make use of a nicer phone like the Fuze or a Blackberry, would be data and messaging (and with a mobile phone, people may already be paying for messaging); in any case, those two services together aren't much more (and less, depending on your provider) than what Peek is charging simply for email from month to month.
I understand that some people like a device with a dedicated purpose, but I'm looking at overall value and flexibility, as well as convergence and the simplicity that that can bring in and of itself (instead of juggling two or more devices). If you're prepared to carry both this and a simpler mobile phone, why not just have it all in one device? It seems that the Peek is simply nothing more than what Blackberry was when it first started out, only with a color screen. Why are we taking several steps back? Is the Peek honestly becoming that popular? Does it honestly have any kind of a lasting appeal in the marketplace? And couldn't the Peek eventually evolve into a multifunctional mobile phone like the Blackberry did? Keep in mind, if they go out of business, a lifetime service subscription won't mean squat (neither will month-to-month service). That won't be a risk you face with your MSP.
I just don't see this lasting.
If I were a business trying to give my employees mobile email, why would I even CONSIDER a Blackberry, iPhone or larger?
The upfront costs of BlackBerry's, iPhones can be $100-$200 per device. x10 employees... that's a lot of cash.
The Peek says EMail and texting. Businesses usually need only emails. Businesses don't usually need iPods, Cameras, Facebook or mobile browsing. From that perspective, the thing makes sense.
Oh. It's pretty simple. Not everyone wants to shell out that much money for email.
It's like getting a Netbook for $299 instead of a iSuperDBZUberleetXPSbbq9000+ for $1999.
It's just dead simple.
I personally ended up getting a new blackberry when my phone came up for renewal (love T-mobile) but I can see a wide audience carrying Peeks.
The $400 for lifetime deal is a hell of alot better than the cost of a new (even subbed) phone plus monthly bills.
I thought the monthly fees for the Peek were $44. So the Peek itself is $44, plus whatever the monthly fees are, correct?
On another note, I don't know what a business would have to pay to acquire Blackberries, especially if they were buying many. But from a business perspective, you also have to figure in the cost of maintaining more devices. It's not just what you spend up front. It's the time, energy, and money you devote to configuring, maintaining, and repairing or replacing the devices and to the accounting that goes along with additional separate services, not to mention, additional training for a new device. What does all that cost in man-hours? Additionally, there's more support for Blackberries in the industry than there is for the Peek, which is something to keep in mind. I'm sure after a certain number of these, the cost to benefit ratio is no longer rationale, as opposed to keeping track of only one device per worker.
It's nothing like buying a computer. And Deadpan, you're not giving yourself much of a platform to stand on when you yourself chose and own a Blackberry. But again, anyone buying and using one of these, will have a mobile phone and be paying for that service anyway, so the only service they're adding for a more sophisticated phone, is data and possibly messaging. How would those data/messaging prices differ from the monthly fees on the Peek?
And yes, you can consider $400 for a lifetime, but once again, that's only worth it if Peek remains in business, which no one can predict. If they go out, your money is lost and you're back to a carrier, anyway. For a business, that's disruptive, a hassle, and expensive in time, energy, and money. Would a business want to risk investing in a smaller company like this that doesn't have much of a track record? I'm not sure, based on all the concerns, if it would be such a smart investment, after all. There are always hidden costs and risk factors that have to be weighed. It's not just money up front and a monthly fee.
Hey everyone, there are some really good reasons why people would rather get a Peek than a smartphone. Here's a big one: getting unlimited email and texting on Peek is vastly cheaper than paying for those services on a smartphone contract. Check out the math http://www.peekonomics.com/
And the math of the lifetime offer at Costco.com is even better!
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Productgroup.aspx?Prodid=11378694&cm_mmc=BCEmail_MarchMailer-_-Feature-_-24-_-PeekMobileEmail
my question is how long is a lifetime and if they go belly up in 2 years did you still think $400 was a good deal?
I think the lifetime service deal around is the only viable financial model they have.
And compared to the $50 Peek + $20/month, the cost inflexion is at only 17.5 months at $400 lifetime, 12.5 months at $300 lifetime, and 10 months for a $250 lifetime contract.
Translation, I do think PEEK will be around for another year or so, so if they offered a $250 lifetime deal, you are virtually guaranteed to get your value.
After that, it starts to pay for itself. I won't compare against cell phone carriers, as it is apples and oranges.
Further, even if you break it, a skilled person can transmit the SIM card to another PEEK.
Hopefully the PEEK2 will have calendar and note capabilities. Would be great if they just moved to reduced capability Access OS (the old Palm OS), I think there is a big 'shadow' market for a tethered pda out there, a 'dumbphone' if you will.