14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter has always greatly focused on the third-party environment. The website itself gets its fair share of attention, but the company has always envisioned itself as just a service provider and, as such, has made sure that all manners of third-party apps and devices are being catered to with the APIs and access to the data. Another core focus for the company has been from the get-go the mobile space and Twitter is once again investing its attention on this part of the business, this time with a dedicated Twitter device designed for tweeting and nothing else called TwitterPeek.
“[F]or millions of Twitter users this isn’t really possible. Unless you have an expensive smartphone and data plan it’s hard to really experience Twitter on-the-go. Technically you can use SMS on a regular phone, but it’s really not the same. So most Twitter users are stuck using the web – and they’re missing out,” Peek, the company that designed and manufactured the device, said. “TwitterPeek is designed to make it affordable for people of all ages and walks of life to take the world of Twitter with them wherever they go. It’s only $99 with service included.”
Twitter had always been a huge fan of the mobile aspect of the service, so, several months ago, the company started looking for a manufacturer to make for it a Twitter-centric device that would be able to send and receive tweets on the go while running a fully featured Twitter client. The company eventually got in contact with Peek, a startup that makes an affordable email device, the Peek Pronto.
In fact, TwitterPeek is nothing but the Pronto refitted to be a dedicated Twitter client rather than an email one. The interface has been redesigned and it has all of the functionality of a desktop or mobile client, reading and sending tweets, but also replying and retweeting. TwitterPeek comes with a full QWERTY keyboard and a 2.7-inch-by-4-inch screen. It doesn't have any WiFi capabilities, but it connects to an unrevealed mobile network in the US to provide it with Internet access everywhere.
The device retails for $99 with a $7.95 monthly fee or $200 with a lifetime service. Of course, most smartphones have dedicated, and free, Twitter apps that, in most cases, are at least as good as the TwitterPeek. The two companies, though, are confident that a dedicated device could catch on with professionals using Twitter extensively or those who can't afford a smartphone and the expensive data plans that come with it.
