With its latest gadget, Peek is catering to a very small niche: the Twitter user who is otherwise unconnected to the mobile Web.
TwitterPeek is a pocket-sized device that only reads and sends messages on Twitter. It costs $200 and includes lifetime service, though TwitterPeek can also be had for $100 with six months of service, and $8 per month after that.
Already, the tech world is turning its nose up at the device. PC World's JR Raphael calls it "destined for extinction," and Gizmodo's Adam Frucci says it's "so dumb it makes my brain hurt." The Christian Science Monitor's Matthew Shaer says TwitterPeek will "almost certainly never take off."
The detractions sound pretty fair: Why get a Twitter-only device when you could get a smartphone with more functionality, or a dumbphone with basic Web access? But those criticisms disregard Peek's existing e-mail only device, the Peek Pronto, which I'm assuming was popular enough for the company to move into Twitter as well. Indeed, there's something to be said for doing one thing well, and not everyone wants a do-it-all smartphone.
Still, TwitterPeek has a real problem on its hands that has nothing to do with the above criticisms. The real issue is that TwitterPeek misunderstands Twitter, whose appeal lies mostly outside of the service itself. Twitter is great for getting Web links and following news stories, but TwitterPeek has only a bare-bones Web browser, according to a PC Magazine review. It can access TwitPic for photos, but not any other third-party picture services. I'm not certain, but I imagine that other external services, such as vidly and song.ly, don't play nicely with the device either.
The overarching issue is that Peek views Twitter as a text messaging service, but if that was all Twitter was good for, it wouldn't be popular enough to warrant its own device in the first place.
