Peek is a cheap wireless e-mail device for non-core techies!
Peek co-founder Rob Gray was presenting this week at the Dow Jones Technology Showcase conference.
From the outside, the Oakland, Calif., startup’s mobile device looks like a very thin Blackberry.
And like its larger cousin, Peek can wirelessly send and receive unlimited e-mails from Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or AOL (up to 3 though) on the nationwide T-Mobile network. But the similarities stop there.
First, because the Peek device – which got recommended by Oprah – only costs $80 at Target and unlike the Blackberry or the $50 Palm Centro doesn’t require a lengthy subscription (usually 1 or 2 years) to a wireless carrier or a social security number.
However, it costs $20 a month to start using the Peek. $10 more that I would have liked, especially for a device that is limited to email (no voice). “We’re working on adding SMS shortly,” confided Gray.
Peek which is running on an ARM processor, will soon be available overseas, first in India, where Gray sees a huge market for a cheap wireless email device.
Jean-Baptiste Su
Mark Boslet
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