The Peek 9 hardware comes with a $69.99 MSRP, but a service plan is required to make the thing tick. Previously there was only two options, $14.99 a month or around $300 for a lifetime plan. The new options are a tiered service, and while the lifetime option is no longer present, the updated plans of $19.99 for one month, $14.95 for 12 months and $9.99 for 24 months is more consumer focused. It presents more options. I like options.

Peek added a good amount of new features to the platform. I believe a good amount of casual — or even business-types — can forgo their expensive smartphone in favor of the Peek and not lose much of anything. This is especially true for BlackBerry users that aren’t used to the wide-range of apps found on the iPhone or Android devices. The Peek 9 has most of the basic smartphone functions: Twitter, Facebook, maps, weather, RSS, and something called Peektop Apps, which at least opens the door to 3rd party applications, but I wouldn’t count on any killer apps in the near future. There’s still support for Microsoft Outlook + Exchange so your work’s IT guys shouldn’t have any issues hooking you up.

But the question remains: can the Peek 9 stand tall as iPhones, BlackBerrys, and Android devices continue to sell like tasty cupcakes? The Peek forces you to carry another device if you want your email and whatnot. That’s not exactly convenience to many people. However, some like separating work from personal devices. This way you can leave your work at home when you’re out with the family and the significant price cut finally makes a case for the device. Hopefully the retail market picks up on the new capabilities.

Peek has always been about low-cost. That’s the staple of their message, but over the years, even their line got more expensive as more features we added. The Peek Pronto launched in 2009 with a $79.99 MSRP with a $20 monthly fee. That’s not exactly cheap in my book seeing how it’s nearly the cost of a smartphone plan.

A retailer prematurity announced the Peek 9 a few days ago and listed the price at $69.99. That’s not exactly an official announcement, but it’s the cost of the service plan that I would like to see dropped. Right now it’s $14.99 and even that’s on par with some on-contract plans. Hopefully the big news tomorrow is the service plan is cheaper.

The email is clearly carefully worded to no doubt generate buzz. There’s a bunch of key words here: focused, cost-efficient, real-time apps and cheaper. That’s fine. I want the Peek 9 to deliver. But can even a cheaper, app-filled Peek stand out in a world full of iPhones, BlackBerrys, and Android devices? That’s a question only the retail market can answer.

Peek was originally supposed to be a dead simple email-only handheld device — a smartphone alternative, really. Over time the company started adding more and more functions to keep it not only relevant in the social networking world, but also to justify new models. But it seems to be going horribly wrong now.

It all started a few days ago when Peek added Google Voice SMS capabilities to the device for the first time — huge potential, but that’s another post — along with other early builds of apps, including a Twitter client. Those that jumped on the early adapter boat and linked in their Google Voice accounts seem to be the only ones with the issue so far. First users reported getting Twitter updates from people they weren’t following. Then suddenly misdelivered text messages via Google Voice started appearing.

Everything seems to be working peachy besides this little issue of users getting delayed or misdirected messages. We say little in jest, really. This is a huge issue and worse yet, the company hasn’t responded to the pleading users on the official forum site or to our emails. Hopefully they worked through the July 4th weekend to fix this gigantic security hole.

The issue seems widespread and not just limited to an early firmware build, but rather to people running the official 1.10+ firmware that rolled out last week. Some users have found disabling PeekSocial has solved some of the issues, but also strips away all the social networking functions from the device. Since the bug seems isolated to Google Voice right now, the best advice we can give Peek users is to both limit your GV usage and start a Tumblr blog to feature some of the more steamy texts you’re getting. Our tipster has a couple that would make the pages of Penthouse, too.

[Thanks for the tip, Johnathan!]

UPDATE: Peek issued a formal apology stating that they take the data of their users is extremely important to them. However one of our original tipsters is still getting rouge text messages so I’m not sure who to believe. Also, contrary to what’s said in their post, I did send them a very nice, open-ended email two hours before this was posted. I still haven’t gotten a response.

WSJ,

The big product news is coming this summer: a free upgrade to all Peeks that significantly expands the capabilities of our mobile Internet device.

Well at least it’s free. We are all about companies adding new capabilities to older devices. That’s the quickest way to our hearts. That and Cadbury Creme Eggs. We love those creamy chocolate eggs. [via SlashGear]

BuzzPeek is dead easy to use. There’s no setup required — just turn it on and you’ll automatically be opted in to everything. BuzzPeek works anywhere around the world (except Mainland China) and it’s always, always on so you’ll never miss a thing.

Just like the iPad there’s no keyboard, but unlike tablet PCs the battery life is a full 17 days (based on average of 2 messages per day). And for power users there’s a native upgrade path to Wave.

I want one but wouldn’t know what to do with it just like Buzz.

Project Big Stuff, you say? Of course Peek is likely working more features into its device, but there’s a thin line already between a Peek and a full-fledge smartphone. Too many features will likely drive some consumers to cell phone providers. But then there are some basic functions such as GPS, web browsing, and even an app store that *might* work well in Peek – as long as it maintains the idiot-proof interface and dirt cheap monthly subscription.

All we can do at this point is wish Peek well and sit patiently on the sidelines spouting random pieces of advice like we know what we’re talking about. We’ve gotten pretty damn good at that the last few years. [Peek via SlashGear, image via BBG]

Get ready, India. The email-only Peek device will soon be riding on Aircell’s airwaves within your boarders and available for purchase in 1,000 different retail spots. It’s actually quite affordable too with a retail cost of Rs.2999 for the handheld and Rs.299 for the monthly service charge. That works out to be $65 USD and $6 USD, respectively. Interested? There’s a spiffy new Indian peek website with all the details.

In an effort to appeal to the nerd rage caused by the recent BlackBerry outage, Peek is offering 50% off the Peek Pronto for the next 24 hours. Use discount code BBOUTAGE5 at checkout. Full e-mail from Peek with more details below:

Dear Blackberry users,

We hear you had a widespread, global outage for much of the business day on Thursday.

We nearly missed our dinner date because of it — next time we’ll only dine with Peeksters!

It makes us wonder why people are paying all that extra money — 3x more than Peek in most cases — for that service.

“Enterprise-scale, world-class blah blah blah”, huh?

Peek is the easiest and most affordable way to stay responsive and on top of your inbox on the go. At least, that’s what the Wall Street Journal, Time, Wired, BusinessWeek, The New York Times, and others keep telling us.

And for disgruntled businesses that are overpaying to keep their people connected — try this code at checkout to save 50% on any Peeks you order in the next 24 hours. Only good on a Peek Pronto.

BBOUTAGE5 at www.getpeek.com

Or the best deal out there: Peek for Life at Amazon.com

Happy Peeking,

Amol Sarva, the Peekster-in-Chief

P.S. if you are a Peekster and you are getting this mail, now is your chance to forward this along to all those friends and coworkers who have been admiring your award-winning Peek. You’ll both get a free month of service when you tell us who you referred!

But the Peek may just be the perfect device for Europe, and Spain’s FON is going to take a shot at distributing it here under the brand PeekFon.

(See Robin Wauters’ take on TechCrunch Europe)

FON CEO Martin Varsavsky hinted at the deal yesterday to me backstage at the Le Web conference in Paris. Here’s why he think the Peek is perfect for Europe – avoiding roaming charges:

The Peek doesn’t make sense in the U.S., he says, because people don’t have mobile roaming charges and so their phones are perfect for email. But in Europe people get “killed” on roaming charges. The PeekFon can help solve that problem.

Varsavsky later posted more information on his blog. The device will be available at FON on December 15:

The PeekFon will be 99 euros to buy, a reasonable price especially considering that the price includes both the gadget and 6 months of all you can eat email service anywhere in Europe. No roaming charges. No contract.

After that we will charge euro 12.90 per month for the service but as opposed to other email machines out there, there is no cancellation penalty of any kind if the user does not want to continue with the service.

This is a complementary service to Fon WiFi but it is not a WiFi product. It is a GPRS product. The idea is that with Fon you share a little wifi at home and roam for free but the PeekFon addresses those moments in which you can’t find WiFi in spite of Fon´s over 800,000 hotspots now available in Europe. With the PeekFon you get the most important piece of messaging, your email, anytime.

Browsing, Twitter, and other functionalities will be added within months but for now buyers have to think of the PeekFon as an email machine with a full keyboard.

Why is Fon launching the PeekFon?

Because in Europe we pay huge roaming charges when we leave our own countries. As a German you can come to France and easily pay in a day what the Peek will cost in a month.

Because many people still prefer a phone that looks like a phone for phone calls and sms and an email machine for email and don’t mind carrying two devices that do their jobs well.

Because even if you never leave your country Blackberry services, iPhone and Android services in Europe cost around 50 euros a month and have minimum 2 year stays and include no talking minutes. So in Europe even if you stay at home you spend 1200 euros to get email and if you travel around Europe you spend double that on the average. This would compare with 312 euros with PeekFon vs 2400 euros if you roam and 1200 euros if you don’t. So there are enormous savings for getting email.

Having said all this Fon recognizes that “apples to apples” a Blackberry, an iPhone, an Android is a better product than a Peek and if you have the extra money to sign 1200 euros contracts and spend a few thousand more for roaming the Peek can’t compete with the complete iPhone, Blackberry, Android experience. But as a pure and simple email machine the Peek can and its price is just reasonable.

Now might be a good time to lock in one of these Peek devices if you’ve subscribed to the idea of mobile e-mail and texting without the cost and complexity of an entire smartphone. Today only, Peek is offering $10 monthly service for the lifetime of the device.

That’s unlimited e-mail and texting, plus the cost of the Peek itself — the Pronto runs for $60 while the Classic goes for $20 (compare features here).

Peek [GetPeek.com]

This week we saw the launch of the TwitterPeek, a cute little device built by Peek that will do just about anything you want it to do, as long as all you want it to do is access Twitter. It won’t surf the web. It won’t make phone calls. It won’t support third party apps. But it most certainly does run Twitter.

You can get it in black. Or, if you want to show a little flair, you can get in in cyan.

For some crazy reason I wanted one. A friend bought me one that I will truly love forever(ish). But the company also sent me one. And while I may or may not need one TwitterPeek, I almost certainly don’t need two TwitterPeeks.

This is where you come in.

We’re giving one of these away to a TechCrunch reader. It’s the cool one, cyan, with lifetime service that costs $200. And it’s all yours. Just retweet this post and make sure to include the short URL link – http://bit.ly/3U2Yhy – as well as the #crunch hashtag. Please only tweet the message once, anyone tweeting repeatedly will be disqualified. Tomorrow we’ll sort through all of the tweets and pick one randomly for the win. You’ll get the TweetPeek device in the mail, and we’ll throw in a TechCrunch tshirt. Even the postage is on us. But please note that in this case only U.S. readers are eligible, because the device only works in the U.S.

By the way, if this goes well and everyone doesn’t spazz out, we’ll do a giveaway every week. Next week we’ll give away a Droid if we can talk Motorola, Verizon or Google into paying for it. If you are a company that has a cool device befitting the refined tastes of a TechCrunch reader (as defined by us) and want to supply the goods, let us know in the comments or via tips@techcrunch.

Oh. And on an unrelated note, it’s unlikely we’ll be returning this test unit, Peek. Something, err, happened to it. I mean we lost it. Actually, it never arrived.

Update: Congratulations to Chris Ricca for winning the Twitter Peek contest.

For the rest of us, this thing is pretty rough. I follow 2104 people and so this thing was buzzing and Tweeting all afternoon until I finally turned it off. Weird batches of tweets would come in, all from one person, for example, or weird messages like “Oh Hey, you’re Tweeting so much! We’re going to try to catch up” or something to that effect. It’s also really slow. You have to click twice to read a Tweet – once to bring up the menu and once to read the Tweet – and scrolling is really bad. And it makes a buzzing and a tweeting noise when tweets come in – which is all the time. And it’s $99 with 6 months free or $199 for life. And it only does Twitter. No email. No texting. I’m really selling this thing, aren’t I?


What Peek has done, however, is create one of the first standalone Twitter devices. This is kind of a big deal and I’m going to talk about this more later this week. I suspect the rise of Twitter as a service and as a cultural entity. As I just retweeted, Manischewitz is now on Twitter. Yeah, the guys who make a nice matzo ball soup.

While I’m sure this will be relegated to the dustbin of history, we can say we were alive at a moment when a service gained so much traction that it was made flesh. Interestingly, Peek clearly knows what they’re doing here and they’re small enough to make a few mistakes on the way – again, more on that later – but, and this is momentous as the moon landing, spotting the first Tweek in the wild will mean Twitter is finally mainstream.

So the TwitterPeek gives you an always-connected view of Twitter over a nationwide cellular network. You can tweet and twat all you want. The device runs $99 with 6 months of service or $199 with a lifetime of the device service.

I’m sure the TweeterPeek is a wonderful device, but most feature phones now include a Twitter app. So if you’re really getting into Twitter, first reevaluate your life, and then check out your cell phone provider’s offers to make sure you simply can’t upgrade your phone to get access to Twitter. Or you can just drop $200 on the TweeterPeek and call it good. Your call.

Peek Unveils TwitterPeek – Making It Affordable for Millions More to Twitter on the Go

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Peek, the maker of the award-winning Peek email and texting device, debuts the world’s first Twitter mobile device today exclusively on Amazon.com. TwitterPeek promises to unleash the thrill of Twitter on-the-go by enabling millions to tweet interesting news, stories, and ideas as soon as they happen – in real time – without an expensive smartphone or data plan.

Twitter has become a worldwide phenomenon, but – until now – the millions of Twitter users without a smartphone haven’t been able to fully experience the fun of Twitter on-the-go. “TwitterPeek will make it easy and affordable for everyone who doesn’t have a smartphone to really enjoy Twitter on–the-go,” said Peekster-in-Chief Amol Sarva.

TwitterPeek delivers the world of Twitter in a sleek, palm-sized gadget sure to top this year’s holiday gift list. “Twitter die-hards will appreciate its ‘always-on’ instant tweet delivery and newbies will finally ‘get Twitter’ once they have TwitterPeek in hand,” continued Sarva. “Even businesses that Twitter will dig TwitterPeek as a convenient way to stay connected with their customers.”

At $99 including unlimited nationwide service, TwitterPeek offers affordability no smartphone can match and a user experience far superior to SMS text messaging Twitter with a traditional cell phone.

Key features of TwitterPeek are:

Unlimited tweets and direct messages
Always-on instant tweet delivery
Views links (as plain text) and Twitpic images
Nationwide coverage. No wi-fi signal necessary.
Full QWERTY keyboard, color screen, click scroll wheel
30-day money back guarantee
1-year manufacturers warranty
Availability:

TwitterPeek is available exclusively on Amazon.com and TwitterPeek.com from November 3, 2009.
The original Peek Classic and Peek Pronto email and texting mobile devices are available at Amazon.com, GetPeek.com, Costco.com, and select Blockbuster and RadioShack stores.
Cost: TwitterPeek

$99 includes device plus 6 months of unlimited Twitter service ($7.95 per month for service thereafter)
$199 includes unlimited Twitter service for lifetime of device
No contracts

The Pronto costs $59.99 with $14.99/month service. The Classic costs $19.99.

In related news, it seems the company has created a new version of the hardware with dedicated Twitter access. We’ve seen images of the box, above, and we’re asking for more info right now.

[Thanks, Peter ]

The Peek has been around for a year already and surprise, surprise, it’s still around. In fact, you can now snag one without a monthly subscription charge for $299 exclusively from Amazon. Now, I’m not saying you should spend $299 on a device that just does email now that smartphone’s monthly subscription costs are dropping, but someone out there might want a dedicated device for email, Twitter, and Facebook.

The deal has two options: either you can get the Peek Pronto with one year of service for $229 or spend $299 for the handheld with the lifetime service plan. Generally you have to buy the Peek for $60 and then spend another $14.99 a month on the service. So if you’re eying the device, it would only make sense to spend the extra hundred bones and get the lifetime service plan if you plan on keeping it more than a year and a half.

Update: Target has the classic, non-Twitter’n , non-Facebook’n version for only $15 bucks. Just saying.

The Peek is already a solid email device. It’s dead simple and works well, so we’re curious about the long-term goal of loading Linux onto these handhelds. We’ve already heard a rumor that placed Google Maps on the device. Perhaps Peek would offer a model with more data capabilities but that would certainly require a more expensive monthly free. Or maybe the company is looking to add an MS Office-type suite to the Peek.

Hopefully we’ll eventually find out, but that’s only if a developer gets Linux up and running on one first.

Geeky Peek via SlashGear