Peek arrives for small businesses in $149 5-pack
By Darren Murph 
posted March 17th 2009 5:34AM
posted March 17th 2009 5:34AM
posted March 17th 2009 5:34AM
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Can you check your text with this device?
yes indeed! texting and email for one nice price!!
my problem is, since most smart phones have this ability to email and text, and browse the web, for an extra $20.00 a month, then why would i need a peek device?
Maybe good for the company that doesnt have corp cell phones (not sure who that would be)
Goldman Sachs gives all employees a Blackberry with the cell phone disabled. They only need secure email and calendar functionality. But they probably get a huge bulk deal so the cost is likely comparable to Peek's offering.
When I used to work for a medium sized business (100-150 employees), we gave a lot of our execs and tech support blackberries. We weren't huge like G-S, but the # of users we had was about 20 or 30. The business plans were monstrous at about $80-100 per head in addition to device up-front cost when the big cheese wants the latest gadget from RIM. For whatever reason, the smallest business plans were in that range - they were NOT the same ones offered as consumer plans, and had things like pooled minutes, pooled data, anytime-minutes only, no free weekends, etc. It was very, very business targeted.
In any case, you're probably right, G-S likely gets a discount for having a few thousand BBs on the go. Small businesses, in the 5-10 device range will likely not have the same clout and _could_ be stuck with face value $80/month or larger BB plans.
Before we started Peek we actually worked for some of those big carriers....
And while the big companies get discounts, they aren't as amazing as the big companies would like to believe. Usually, what you buy as a consumer on promo out of the newspaper is better than what Goldman is getting for their 1,000 users....
Is it always connected or does it require wifi? If it's always connected it's hard to justify the price over a cheap prepaid phone. If it only connects via wifi then it's hard to understand what the $20 per month is for
Peek devices have their own connectivity (through T-Mobile). Think of them as web-less Blackberries or Sidekicks with the phone disabled. Or you can think of them as hardwired POP/IMAP clients with on-board storage. Either way, you can send and receive e-mail from up to 3 e-mail accounts per Peek, each of which will show an appropriate return address. You can also text message with the Peek. At this time IM is not supported, and there are no plans to add a web browser.
Pre-paid Peek access plans drop the monthly cost down to about $16/month, so they're actually pretty cheap to run. You just have to have the need to use one.
what cheap pre-paid cellphone do you know of with a screen this big and a full qwerty keyboard?
This is perfect for a lot of people, my dad included, who would be confused by BB.
If the peek did email AND internet then I'd buy one in a heartbeat. Barely make calls so it would be perfect, but just having e-mail isn't going to do me all that much good.
And maybe throw in a touch screen and you've got a customer!
You can text with this device too, right?
Yes you can text
We have been seeing folks turn off their cell phones. Definitely a trend. Been hearing about this a lot from tech reporters...
If this did both text and email it would be PERFECT for the deaf community, since they don't need a voice plan. Also they wouldn't need to shell ouf for a QWERTY keyboard "smart phone" that they only use a portion of the features!
Hey, thats a cool thought... i agree, it should have text too... thanks for thinking about the deaf community, where did you get the idea from?
Cheers from Australia, AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE, Oi Oi Oi!!!
That is a great idea, add text to speech, and maybe some brail above each button
It does texting - which is something that got added to it in November, I think.
And in this environment, a penny saved is a penny earned. If you can save 5 employees $20/month, that's $100/month = $1200 a year saved on needless overhead. That's a good deal in any small business book!
Goldman-Sachs can continue to give everyone Blackberries. All those banks are clearly wise with their money. [/sarcasm]
My Daughter is deaf. I found that the cell phone companies just really don't offer too much of a break when it comes to plans for the deaf.
Boy those things are ugly.
Does it turn transparent when your thumb is on the bottom right corner?
I gave up on my Peek. It sucks.
And don' t flame, I've actually used this thing for two months.
for those who might be considering it, what is wrong with it?
Hey - that's a total bummer Josh F -- do say more -- or email me at amol at getpeek... I'll send you the latest greatest rockingest version for free. Do you still have the device? -- Amol
Ok, let met clarify.
For being a e-mail/text device only. It HAS to be great at those or the business plan won't work.
For me, the Peek was:
Slow: the UI was very slow to respond to clicks and movements, especially after it's been on a while. Also, sending and receiving mail took a couple minutes to actually complete (most of the time)
Ugly: The UI that was slow was also ugly. If I am going to be staring at it a lot trying to read e-mails, it would be better to look nice.
Feature Lacking: Of course it is marketed as an e-mail only device, but it didn't even cover all of the bases of that! When I was a user, it didn't have full IMAP/push support at the time. Things might have changed since then but I am not sutre. This also covers the send/receive slowness mentioned above.
Expensive: I think the price tag for the device itself is a tad expensive, but for the quality of the service, I don't think it was worth $20 a month. ESPECIALLY when there are cell companies offering unlimited service (text, calling (domestic), web, walkie-talkie) for $50/mo see: Boost Mobile
Hopefully I have clarified my opinion.
Stay tuned early-generation Peeksters....
Who provides the wireless service on these devices? If Peek goes under, I assume you have a nice paperweight and nothing more?
When is someone gonna hack this to use Palm/Access OS so that it has PDA functionality?
The Peek has very limited hardware, so hacking possibilities are somewhat limited. It uses a very integrated chipset that's OK on power usage, but at the cost of being on the sluggish side. I suspect that Peek hardware 2.0 will have more pizazz, if/when it gets released.
hey everyone -- peek does both email and texting. there's more info on this special offer here. http://www.peekforbusiness.com/
I think they're really cool little devices. Just because I have no use for one doesn't mean there isn't a market for it out there. Now if someone could hack it to allow full browsing or tethering...
it just me or is this just the windows calculator symbol??
According to the Peek site, sometime in April they will have support for Microsoft Exchange.
So, until that happens, most corporate email will not be supported by Peek.
@Digitallysick. Most carriers require now a $30/mo for smartphones. Well, US carriers. While you can get a blackberry phone phone for free, the extra $10/mo costs $120 more a year for each line. Also, BES used to cost money since MS switched to free mail for Windows phones.
Add $15-20/month for the unlimited texting you also need....save $250-36 per year!
ain't nobody gonna buy this shit
especially businesses
Hey look! A euro-homeboy tricked out in 1990s Italian sweatpants.
I hesitated about getting a Peek at first because I thought it was a device for kids and that it was expensive.
Actually, the Peek, once I had it in my hands and began to use it, is a pretty device. It has a solid feel and it does one (well two really) things well. It is great for email and it sends messages to cell phones. For $16 a month it sends unlimited messages. An iphone or G1 would cost more. I have a Motorola V195. I do not want a phone that requires an expensive data plan. The unlimited SMS plan for tmobile costs $15. So, the Peek really is an economical device at $16 a month (if you buy time in a 3 month block.) If I want to access the web, I will use my Lenovo S-10. I have used Crackberrys and iPhone, and both are more novelty and more expensive monthly. Once you really use a Peek, you will like it.
Oh! Yeah, I do not work for Peek, although I wish I did.
"We're literally on the edge of our seats here -- aren't you?"
Pfft, I'm on the 3G of my seat. EDGE is sooo 2007.
I respect Peek for their competitive pricing and catering to a niche market.