The Peek is an interesting idea. It’s a mobile device that’s about the size of a smartphone that has a full QWERTY keyboard plus wireless data connectivity. It’s not a phone, though, since it just gets email. No phone calls and no web surfing.

The Peek in Red

The basic version costs $20 and the Pronto (which also adds text messaging) costs $60. The Peek service is $20 a month.

It’s obviously a device full of potential: a cellular data connection, a keyboard, and a screen are enough to make any device interesting, especially if there isn’t a 2-year contract. The problem really lies in what CNet said about it:

“The Peek promises to be the mobile e-mail device for everyday people, but we just think the money is better spent on a multifunction handheld.”

In other words, just buy a smartphone.

Linux?

Peek has recently challenged readers of their company blog to port Linux onto the Peak. They’ve released some information about the Peek’s hardware and offered a consulting job to get whoever figures it out to tell them.

If they’re smart, though, they will not stop at that. Instead, they could release the code of the port and invite people to build whatever they want out of the Peek.

This would very quickly create a huge hacker community centered around the Peek, since, as I mentioned earlier, a full keyboard, a screen, and a cellular data connection is enough to tempt any hacker.

Peek could then just sit back and stop worrying about the software. When someone released some solid code that added cool functionality, they could refine it and stick it in the Peek.

This would create something like a zero-effort (on Peek’s part) app store and more (since hackers would have the opportunity to dig as deep into the code as they wanted). That might be just the right thing to convince people that the Peek isn’t just a one-function smartphone.

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