I Miss the Peek, My Cheap and Simple Email-Only Travel Buddy

It appears like a ridiculous concept. A cell machine able to solely e mail, launched only a 12 months after the game-changing first technology iPhone. It appears foolish now, however when the Peek debuted in 2008, it delivered one thing smartphones couldn’t. At 1/sixth worth of the iPhone, the Peek offered an inexpensive approach to get e mail on the go. For a number of years, it was some of the helpful devices I introduced with me when visiting the United States from Canada.

Steve Jobs revealed the unique iPhone in early January of 2007. As a cell machine it was revolutionary, turning smartphones into extra than simply communication instruments, but in addition media consumption units with full entry to web sites and video streaming providers like YouTube. Peek, the corporate, was based in the identical 12 months by former workers of Virgin Mobile and revealed its personal cell machine in 2008. The iPhone was heralded for all it might do; the Peek for what it couldn’t.

The Peek lacked a digicam, an online browser, a video participant, a photograph viewer, and even primary cellphone performance. It was an email-only machine paying homage to the Blackberry (that was within the technique of slowly being killed off by smartphones), however with even much less capabilities. You couldn’t name anybody on the Peek, nor might you verify your calendar, however you may use it with only one hand due to a thumb-activated scroll wheel on the aspect. After simply over a 12 months with the iPhone, customers started to understand that smartphones had turn into a time-consuming distraction. (It would solely worsen.) The Peek promised to let customers concentrate on one factor: clearing their inbox, sans infinite social media notifications and a continuing onslaught of texts.

The different large benefit the Peek supplied over a smartphone was that it was less expensive. The unique iPhone additionally ushered in new period of ultra-expensive cell units with a price ticket that began at $500. It flaunted a elaborate, massive glass touchscreen that was very prone to shatter must you drop the machine. The Peek, as a substitute, had only a primary colour LCD display. Though you may contact it as a lot as you wished, it could fully ignore your finger faucets. The machine was completely operated by way of its scroll wheel, buttons, and a clicky QWERTY keypad. As a consequence it offered for simply $80. Even adjusting for inflation that will put the unique price ticket at simply over $100 if offered at the moment.

When the Peek was launched 13 years in the past, it was usually nicely acquired. Time journal even named it one of many “50 Best Inventions of the Year,” calling it “a smart, handy tool.” For me, the Peek’s most interesting high quality wasn’t the price or simplicity. I used to be really a contented consumer of the unique iPhone (even when I needed to soar by way of hoops to make it work in Canada) however on the time, the place I lived, information charges the place extremely pricy for measly quantities of cell information. If you dared to even consider making an attempt to make use of your smartphone when visiting one other nation, it could value you a fortune. That meant my iPhone was all however ineffective once I was within the United States masking commerce reveals like CES on a funds. It remained tucked away in a pocket, rising solely sometimes to make the most of a uncommon wifi hotspot. When within the land of the free and residential of the courageous, the Peek was my helpful journey buddy. (It didn’t work in Canada although.)

Not solely was the Peek {hardware} very inexpensive, the corporate additionally charged simply $20 per thirty days for limitless e mail entry. It won’t have been the deal of the century for Americans so far as cell information plans went in 2008, however for a Canadian visiting the United States a number of occasions a 12 months, having full entry to my e mail with out having to fret about being charged a premium for going over roaming information limits, the Peek was the right resolution. Even primary texting was very costly each time I crossed the border, so my fellow Canadians and I, with Peeks in hand, would deal with all of our CES communications and final minute planning by way of lengthy e mail chains. It was a bit clunky, but it surely labored and didn’t break the financial institution.

So why didn’t we see a Peek 12 debut this 12 months alongside the iPhone 13 fanfare? The unique Peek was adopted by the Peek Pronto in 2009 which supplied upgraded e mail options like help for Microsoft Exchange and the flexibility to open extra kinds of attachments. Like the unique, it loved favorable protection. But later the identical 12 months, Peek additionally launched the TwitterPeek, the world’s first Twitter-only cell machine, which instantly earned a spot on our personal “The 50 Worst Gadgets of the Decade” rating as “the most useless gadget ever.” It seems individuals hated Twitter in 2009 too and the considered paying a month-to-month charge for it was simply as unappealing as it’s at the moment.

A 12 months later in 2010, the Peek 9 made its debut. It felt just like the antithesis of the corporate’s first cell machine. It had maps, climate, RSS, and entry to Twitter, Facebook, and e mail by way of a month-to-month service plan that was as low-cost as $10 if customers have been prepared to lock in for 2 years. As the Peek’s capabilities grew, the price of cell information plans for smartphones was shrinking, and as they grew to become cheaper to personal and use, the enchantment of the Peek step by step waned. The firm disconnected its older {hardware} from its community in 2010, changing energetic customers’ units with the newer Peek 9, whether or not they preferred it or not. By early 2012, the corporate fully transitioned away from its cell units in favor of providing solely cloud resolution providers. Every final Peek was deactivated.

As Android and different smartphone platforms arrived to compete with the iPhone, customers got extra alternative, and it pressured carriers to supply extra aggressive cell plans in consequence. The state of affairs was no totally different right here in Canada, and whereas I envy what my American co-workers pay to make use of their smartphones at the moment, it now prices me subsequent to nothing to make use of my iPhone when crossing the border. So as a lot as I miss it, I’m additionally glad I can go away my Peek on the backside of my deserted (however not forgotten) devices drawer.