Device Maker Targets Twitter Base
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A new device designed exclusively for the task of Tweeting is looking to win over an already hooked user base. NY1's Adam Balkin filed the following report.Is Twittering, Tweeting -- you know, using Twitter so huge now that it justifies an entirely new category of device? Well the creators of the just unveiled TwitterPeek certainly do.
"The TwitterPeek is the world's first Twitter mobile device which lets you connect to Twitter anywhere anytime for no monthly fees. So it's super affordable but it lets you unlock all the fun and conversations that are happening on Twitter. It connects to the cell phone network wherever you are so you don't have to lug your laptop around on the one hand and you don't have to buy a $100 smartphone contract," said Amol Sarva of TwitterPeek. "On the other hand it lets you just be connected to the stuff that's fun and interesting to you but really affordably."
Creators say the minute they started working on the project they knew it would be a polarizing device -- one that some people would immediately accept, while others would ask, 'Why do I need something new when the Blackberry or iPhone or whatever smartphone I already have does everything this does just fine?'
"In the gadget world where we hang out everyone thinks everyone is toting around smartphones. It turns out that six out of seven people are not using a smartphone because it's just too expensive and complicated well all those folks with a regular phone are not going to have the optimal, super fun, super interesting Twitter experience unless they have a gadget like this," Sarva said.
Some reviewers think it could take hold with the non-tech savvy Twitter community if it can mirror the Twitter experience on a computer.
"The problem is the TwitterPeek is executed really poorly, it makes Twitter slow, it lacks all sorts of major features of the service like the ability to look at the public timeline or trending topics," said Sascha Segan of PCMag.com. "This isn't a fatal problem, they could rewrite the Twitter browser on there. The bigger question, is Twitter something that is buzzed about by people and it's going to be a fad or is this a big enough social change for people to buy hardware that's dedicated to that? I don't know the answer to that."
The TwitterPeek is available right now exclusively through Amazon.com. You can either pay $99 and an $8 a month service fee, after the six month free trial, or $200 which gets you the device and lifetime service for it.