Here we go, this is something that caught my eye today, that I just had to share with you all. It’s not a mobile phone, but it is a handheld device, and there’s a big link to mobile phones coming up in about paragraph five. As you may have guessed from the title of this blog post, I have tried, and failed utterly, to see what the point of it is. So, really, this blog post is basically me asking all of my readers if they can fathom why you’d want this particular device.
Y’see, what we have here is the ‘TwitterPeek’, from the same company who made the Peek mobile email device (which, as a side note, is something else I can’t see the point of). And the reason I can’t see the point of it?
All it does, literally all it does, is Twitter. And nothing else. Whatsoever. However, before this descends into a debate over whether Twitter is brilliant or banal (the real answer to that is neither, it’s the users who make it either of those things), I’ll explain why I think it’s pointless.
Put it this way, do you know anyone who’s sole means of staying in touch with people is Twitter? No? Me neither.
But here’s the killer. Consider modern mobile phones. I’ll give you two examples to get you started: the HTC HD2 and the Android-powered Motorola DEXT. Apart from being gorgeous phones, what do they have in common? That’s right, they’re both part of the modern smartphone boom which is, at least in part, built around social networking. And crucially, they both have integrated Twitter apps.
You see where I’m going with this? We already have handheld devices that do Twitter brilliantly. They’re called mobile phones. And they do lots more besides Twitter. So I’m at a genuine loss to work out who the TwitterPeek is aimed at, and who’d want to buy it. To me, it just seems to be another box you have to carry round, and to add insult to injury, it’s a box that only does something your phone already does, and (and this is a big ‘and’) charges you for the privilege.
Oh yes, didn’t I mention the price? Their website only gives prices in American money (presumably, it’s only available in the USA?), but it’s listed as being $99 (about 60 quid) for six months free usage, followed by $7.95 (a fiver in real money) per month afterwards; or there’s the deal at $199 (12o nicker) for the unlimited lifetime subscription. Now, granted, those prices aren’t massive, but why would you want to pay for a second box you have to lug about with you, that’s replicating something your phone already does for free?
And so, it’s over to you, dear readers. I am genuinely at a loss to say what the point of the TwitterPeek is, so if anyone can think of something, then please, leave a comment. That’s the whole reason I did this post, after all, to try and see if someone could work out a reason I haven’t spotted…
Can you think of a point to the TwitterPeek? Leave us a comment and have your say!
November 6th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I think the value here is the cost in a lifetime service contract, I currently use a GoPhone only for text which is 19.99 a month for unlimited service. The Twitterpeek at 199 will pay for itself in 10 months and the rest will be free after that. I also had friends give me a hard time about 10 years ago when I bought my Tivo and paid for the lifetime contract on it for 199 and now I see how I saved close to 1500 in doing it over a monthly fee. I also did the lifetime service with Sirius when it first came out. It could also be a great solution for admins and support teams, server goes down and you get a tweet, tweet it back to reset itself, or a user id , or change a password. Pretty much anything that could be done at a command line could be done through Twitter with their API .
November 9th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Excellent comment, Wayne, I have to admit, I wasn’t aware of the Sirius service. Like I say, though, the problem I see is that it’s replicating something that (in most cases, nowadays) your phone already does for free, so I’m at a bit of a loss as to work out why anyone would want to carry around two devices in their pocket, and pay for the privilege.
Yes, you save money over the non-lifetime subscription versions of the device, but in most cases, your phone will already be doing what you’re paying for the TwitterPeek to do.
Excellent comment, dude!