GigaOM » Peek

Peek lets amateur tour guides plan a “perfect day” in their city of choice

Eliza Kern — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 19:00:54 +0000

Maybe you live in a popular city for tourism, like New York or San Francisco, and you’re used to giving your list of favorite activities to out-of-town visitors. Or maybe you took the best trip of your life to a distant city, and want to share your tips and tricks with friends. Either way, whether you’re a seasoned local or enthusiastic new visitor, Peek is a new travel site that lets you design your “perfect day” in a city and contribute to a growing travel site where people design their ideal days in cities across the globe. And beginning Tuesday, it will allow normal travelers to join celebrities in making recommendations on the site.

In many ways, Peek is the opposite of the travel guidebooks you might be used to. You won’t find long lists of restaurants, or a comprehensive guide to all kid-friendly activities within a single place. Instead, the site, which launched in October, goes under the assumption that people are overwhelmed with choices when it comes to travel, and they just want to be given a few high-quality options to choose from.

The site is optimized for mobile browsing but has no native apps, an odd choice in an industry that clearly hinges on searching and planning on the go. But Peek, which has the backing of an impressive list of investors including Jack Dorsey, Eric Schmidt, SV Angel and Khosla Ventures, started out with a short list of curated city guides in California and Hawaii, as well as “Perfect Days” designed by celebrities including Piers Morgan (he likes the hot air balloons in San Diego), Tory Burch (she has tips for catching some Hawaiian music in Oahu), and Jack Dorsey (he likes the roasted chicken at San Francisco’s Zuni.) Changes coming to the site on Tuesday will allow anyone to contribute ideas as well.

At first, the ability to create “perfect days” was limited the famous and relatively famous, but Bashir said they had so many requests from people who wanted to post their own “perfect days” that they decided to create a separate version of the site where anyone can post their suggestions for a city. This new version debuts on Tuesday.

“The average person spends an hour planning a trip, and goes to up to 20 different websites,” said founder Ruzwana Bashir, the British CEO and founder of Peek. “In the end, you create a long list of things you want to do and you don’t know where to start.”

The suggestion page looks very much like Pinterest, and users can “re-plan” (like re-pin) suggestions from other people, creating their own “perfect day” as a compilation of other people’s suggestions. Even if you’re not currently planning a trip, it’s fun to browse the suggestions and photos, which can be organized by location around the globe.

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Blaast opens cloud-based mobile app platform to global developers

David Meyer — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:42:51 +0000

Smartphone apps are great, but – particularly if you live in a developing market – the data they need can be quite pricey. And in those countries, chances are you won’t be opting for the latest, top-of-the-line handset model either.

That’s why the idea of cloud-based app platforms is taking off. These platforms run their apps partly on the device, but the heavy lifting is done on some remote server. You’d think this would result in more rather than less data usage, but heavy compression – not dissimilar to that used by Amazon’s SilkBrowser or Opera Mini – takes care of that problem.

One such platform, Finland’s Blaast, launched in Indonesia in January, in partnership with local operator XL. Now it’s opened up customer and developer availability to the rest of the world as well, and also has a couple of other tidbits to share: two more as-yet-unnamed South-East Asian carrier partnerships have been struck (creating a total market of 76 million potential customers), and an Android version will be coming out by the end of the year.

Blaast’s app, which is funded by investors including Skype’s founding engineers and ex-Nokian Pekka Vartiainen, can be used on more than 2,000 handset models, as all it really needs to run is Java.

However, the company does have competition in the form of the Australian biNu platform, which picked up $2m from Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures this month, and the U.S.-based Peek.

Although all offer a similar kind of service, they diverge quite radically in their monetization strategies. Peek goes straight to the manufacturers of very low-cost phones, biNu makes money through its own virtual currency, and Blaast charges subscription fees (per day, week or month) that average out at around $1.50 per month.

For that fee you get access to more than 100 apps, including Twitter, Facebook, social games, Wikipedia, news and so on. That strategy appears to be working. Even before the fresh push announced this week, Blaast has attracted four million downloads and four thousand developers, who are writing apps tailored to the Indonesian market.

“Our approach has really struck a chord with developers as well as operators looking to extend their reach both geographically as well as to the low-end device segment,” CEO Joonas Hjelt said. “In fact, we are on course to support over 500 million Blaast-enabled feature phone by 2014.”

Now, about that Android version. Details are still sketchy – Blaast hasn’t yet said whether or not its roughly-30/70 revenue split with developers will extend into this market – but the company has an interesting pitch here.

Not only is there the data thing (a serious issue when data costs four or more times than it does in the U.S., relative to purchasing power) and the relatively low spec of the cheapest Android handsets, but Blaast reckons its subscription model has advantages over the traditional app store model.

This is an assertion that makes some sense when you consider its operator partnerships, and the fact that app stores tend to require credit cards. So developers who want to address these markets may want to take note.

As biNu suggested to Ryan recently, there’s around three to five years of play left for this kind of business, until smartphone economics even out for developing world customers.

But there’s a huge amount of money to be made in the meantime. And getting on board with the carriers, as Blaast is doing, seems a pretty smart way to make it.

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Peek Looks To Cheap Smartphones, Connected Devices For Future

Ryan Kim — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 01:04:17 +0000

From the moment Peek debuted on the market, skeptics have wondered what the future was for a dedicated e-mail and text device in the era of smartphones. But the company has built a very modest, nearly profitable business — 50,000 units sold in two years — with its low-cost messaging handsets and is increasingly selling them to companies in need of connected devices for workers.

But while the New York-based start-up has yet to become a well known brand, the company believes its back-end technology, not its current end products, can position it for a break-out year. Peek is expanding to low-cost smartphones and potentially other connected consumer electronics devices. Rather than be swallowed up by smartphones, Peek is betting it could actually ride the same wave of mobility and connectivity to success with a product strategy change. It’s a hefty-sized wager, perhaps even a last ditch effort, but one that CEO Amol Sarva believes can pay off.

In a meeting I had with Sarva this week, he told me that in a year from now, the Peek devices and service plans, which currently make up a great majority of the company’s revenue, will become just 20 percent of the business as Peek’s software eventually powers dozens of devices around the world. Sarva said Peek has built its software to work on Qualcomm’s BREW platform and is also outfitted it to work on chips from MediaTek, a fabless semiconductor company. He also said manufacturers in Asia are now poised to use those components and build very low-end smartphones that leverage Peek’s messaging software and cloud service, which will sell in emerging markets such as India, Africa and Latin America. Sarva expects five Peek-powered phones to launch in the next month and 30 phones by this time next year.

While emerging markets are slowly embracing smartphones, Sarva said there will be a distinct need for ultra-cheap and simple devices that will sip power and be efficient with network resources, especially in areas that have yet to see 3G networks. He said Peek’s software, which is designed to work on very simple and inexpensive 100 MHz processors, allows manufacturers to build affordable smartphones that could retail for as little as $50 unsubsidized.

As we’ve written prior, many manufacturers are looking to the free Google Android operating system to build cheap smartphones. But the hardware requirements of Android are still more rigorous than commodity feature phones, so Sarva says there’s an opportunity to ship cheap, but competent, hardware using simpler processors and less expensive components. These could undercut prices of Android devices, while still providing more robust messaging and applications through Peek’s platform. The latest version of the Peek software can handle push e-mail, works in areas with poor or marginal cellular coverage, offers Facebook and Twitter integration, includes location support and has the ability to run light-weight Peektop apps.

“This is a huge opportunity for us,” Sarva said. “We’ve built technology that no one cared about but now we’re suddenly being approached by guys who have the hardware that want to make it smart.”

Even with Sarva’s optimism, the cards are still stacked against Peek in the long run. With more and more cheap Android phones on the way, Peek will be have to prove itself against an army of Google devices. And it’s a question if carriers will embrace Peek when they’re likely looking to sell more profitable smartphones and bigger data plans.

Sarva believes there’s also another big opportunity brewing in helping connect consumer electronics devices. He said Peek is talking to major CE brands about including Peek software in everything from photo frames and cameras to tablets, clock radios and MP3 players. He said companies are looking to leverage Peek’s work in connecting to cellular networks as a way to connect their devices.

He said by leveraging Peek’s simple software, electronics manufacturers can strike a blow against the increasing threat of smartphones by building in connectivity. “If you’re a camera maker, you can put in 3G and move in the direction of a phone,” he said.

The opportunity in what some call the Internet of Things will take longer to materialize, said Sarva, because CE manufacturers take more time to act. But he said that could also be a major part of Peek’s business in the years to come.

That doesn’t mean Peek is giving up on its small messaging device, the latest of which the Peek 9 rolled out in September. Sarva said the company has shifted its business away from consumers to corporate customers, who are looking to Peek to equip manual and remote workers with messaging tools. He said dozens of hotels are handing them out to the housekeeping staff to help them report their work progress while trucking companies are giving them to drivers. Some fast food chains like Panda Express and Sonic are also trying out the use of Peeks to track incoming orders.

He said even as the smartphone grows in importance, consumers are still holding on to existing devices like laptops and are adopting new ones like tablets. That, Sarva said, shows that people will be carrying multiple devices well into the future. And many service oriented-companies, in particular, may be inclined to rely on cheap messaging devices as essential tools for low-end workers.

Peek, which has raised $20 million to date, has always went against the grain, favoring simplicity (sometimes to an extreme) in an increasingly complicated world. This next phase, however, will be very telling for the company. If he’s right, Sarva will prove that the company can find a profitable niche for his software in a connected world. But the pressure will be on as Peek bids to become less of a simpler messaging service and more like the smartphones he’s been competing against.

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Google’s Chrome OS: Dead Before Arrival?

David Card — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:00:57 +0000

Last week Google showed off its progress on Chrome OS. It introduced an apps store in support of it, and offered up a pre-release hardware trial program as a concession that real machines wouldn’t ship till mid 2011. But it’s likely all for naught. Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s objective of making Chrome OS a “viable third choice” in desktop operating systems looks doomed.

Really, Peek? We Need a Dedicated Twitter Device?

Colin Gibbs — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:20:50 +0000

For those who thought its email-only device targeted too broad a market, Peek Inc. has gone even more niche — and more absurd — with the first mobile device dedicated entirely to Twitter. TwitterPeek, as the gadget is branded, enables users to read and send tweets, reply, retweet and send direct messages on the go. The device sells for $99 plus an $8 monthly fee or $200 for a lifetime of service.

The problem, of course, is that plenty of phones at that price point and below integrate Twitter services very well (and Twitter’s novelty factor may be wearing thin anyway). Twitter apps are available on $99 smartphones such as the iPhone 3G and Palm Pre, and even cut-rate feature phones can handle basic Twitter functions. But the most laughable thing about the TwitterPeek is the thought that users somehow need a dedicated device for every social networking site or mobile Internet app. It’s akin to having one television on which to watch sports, a second for movies and a third for sitcoms. Oh, and paying separate cable subscriptions for each TV.

That’s not to say there’s no room for dedicated devices in the era of the superphone. The success of the Kindle has demonstrated that users are still willing to pay a premium for a device that’s built for the consumption of a specific kind of content, and — as my colleague Kevin C. Tofel has pointed out — we’re likely to see a wave of new dedicated devices as connectivity moves beyond phones and laptops into a variety of consumer electronics products. But one of Twitter’s key qualities is its ease of use from almost any connected device, from PCs to cutting-edge smartphones to antiquated feature phones. So asking users to pay $100 plus a monthly fee for a Twitter-optimized gadget seems like a dead-end (and downright silly) strategy.

What do you think?

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Clearing The Cache – Email

Scott Blitstein — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:00:55 +0000

Like many of us, I spend quite a lot of time on the web and come across a staggering number of interesting things. In Clearing The Cache I choose a theme, pull out some of my favorites and share them with you here.

Execupundit shares The Biggest Email Sin

jkOnTheRun takes a Poke at the Peek: email only device

Merlin Mann talks Inbox Zero

Publish just about anything by email with Posterous

Convert your webmail to standard POP/SMTP with IzyMail

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The iPhones have it

James Kendrick — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:53:22 +0000

Say what you will about the iPhone, and no one seems reluctant to do so, the iPhone is the most significant consumer electronic device to come along since, well, the iPod. Dwight Silverman has an iPhone and he’s bumping into the "he’s got an iPhone!" syndrome wherever he goes. Even though it’s low on smartphone features compared to current competition even power users I’ve spoken with who have bought and subsequently returned the iPhone express "returner’s remorse" after doing so. The draw of the device is its greatest strength, and that is attracting millions of users to the iPhone.

Apple has not only done a remarkable job marketing the iPhone (business schools should study what they’ve done) but also in producing another device that is not only cool but simple to use. Case in point- yesterday I had the good fortune to perform my civic duty and report for jury duty. A gentlemen I peg to be in his 60s was sitting in front of me playing with his iPhone for hours. I could see he was surfing the web and working with his email. I struck up a conversation with him and it was quickly apparent that this guy is a complete neophyte when it comes to smartphones. One statement he made is proof what Apple is accomplishing with the iPhone- "I didn’t even know you could surf the web and do email on a phone".

That statement is proof positive that Apple is achieving a great thing with the iPhone. They are bringing millions of newbies, and not kicking and screaming, into the smartphone age. It was totally cool watching this guy being productive in a setting he never would have been otherwise. This is huge in terms of bringing technology to the uninitiated, and Apple is to be congratulated for this. Yes, the iPhones have it.

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Why SBC Really Bought AT&T

Om Malik — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 15:09:59 +0000

Ed Whitacre Jr., the chief executive of SBC told the Senate Judiciary Committee why his company, which has been losing about 60,000 access lines each week really decided to buy AT&T. First for the AT&T network, and then for the business services. But another reason he gave was AT&T’s VoIP expertise.

the “next big thing” in communications technology is voice over Internet Protocol…or VoIP. It has already opened the door to a host of new competitors. Dozens upon dozens of cable companies and others are using VoIP to provide telephone service, and they are winning customers. SBC does not have a consumer VoIP service but AT&T does. The combined company will have the resources and incentives to compete with VoIP in our region, outside our region and for business customers around the world.

I guess that was before AT&T filed a document with SEC saying that it had garnered a mere 53,000 customers with its VoIP effort, CallVantage. Still, David Dorman’s passionate defense of the merger was impressive.

Most of you, and your parents and grandparents, have always known AT&T primarily as your phone company, a residential consumer-oriented company. That is not the AT&T of today. The AT&T of today is a global IP networking provider with a software infrastructure.

I think despite a lot of obsession over consumers and what not, that expertise is going to be increasingly important in the future. Funny, SBC head honcho did not list that as the first and foremost reason why his company is buying Ma Bell.

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