Peek's $100 E-Mail-Only Handheld Could Catch Market By Surprise

Is there a market for a cheap, one-function email gadget -- today's equivalent of a two-way pager? Peek, a NY-based startup, is about to find out.

We'd been anxiously waiting for the last year to hear more information from the company, formerly known as Txtbl. But to our surprise, Peek has been quietly posting a few updates here and there for the last few weeks -- including the first photo of its $99.95 device, coming to Target stores nationwide on Sept. 14 (and earlier on the Web).

What is it? A thin gadget -- in cherry, aqua, and grey -- with a full QWERTY keyboard that sends and fetches email over T-Mobile's network for $19.95 a month, according to Amol Sarva, Peek's CEO. That's it. No mail-in rebate, no long-term contract, no phone calls, no Web browser, no digital camera, no App Store, no SMS, no MP3 player, no mobile TV -- just email, including Google's GMail, Yahoo mail, AOL, etc.

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