Aircel India has taken a huge gamble by introducing a new device called "Peek" which is a Qwerty device similar to those provided by RIM’s Blackberry.
The device which is targeted at email users, has a Qwerty keyboard and is specifically for emails. Aircel boasts that Peek is the thinnest email device ever created. Peek in itself is not a pricey device, and at Rs. 2,999 it is almost a steal, but would Indian consumers really buy a device just for emails?
Consider this, most of the smartphones available today have email capability along with video, camera, voice and more, so would users buy a device just for the sake of email?
The marketing strategy of Aircel may not be wrong, but they are basically targeting a small niche of users who want dedicated devices to check their email and not the entire package which a smartphone offers. Whether a device with only email capabilities succeeds or not is a feat we will be watching.
Specifications: Aircel Peek is available in the two colors, black and red and comes with a Qwerty keyboard. Users can currently configure only 3 email accounts, which makes no sense to me and will have PUSH email capability.
Battery life is supposedly 2-3 days, but expect it to be much lower if you are a heavy email user. To top it you can only store up-to 5000 email message right now and about 1000 contacts.
Charges: Users will have to pay an initial amount of Rs. 897 for email access for 90 days and then have to shell out a monthly charge of Rs. 299 every month to download their emails.
Verdict: This device will definitely not take off as much as Aircel expects, considering that it restricts users to only 3 email accounts and also has a charge of Rs. 299 per month which is almost equivalent to a GPRS connection price one pays on mobile smartphones. In addition to that, this device is practically useless without a Internet connection and does not even allow you to make phone calls. All in all, my prediction is that, this device will be a big failure.
If you are interested in the Aircel Peek, you can find more information and purchasing details at the Official Aircel site.
Source: techie-buzz.com
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