Wednesday, December 9 2009

FON Launches the PeekFON with Free PanEuropean GPRS Roaming

peekThis December 15th, Fon will launch the Peek in Europe under the brand PeekFON. The Peek is an efficient email gadget whose unique feature is that it will have no roaming charges in any European country.

I will personally do the announcement tomorrow at LeWeb and be at the Speakers Lounge to answer questions for bloggers and journalists at noon. Please follow me @martinvars on Twitter to see if there are any changes in time and location. Please write to me @martinvars or at martin@fon.com to schedule interviews.

The PeekFON will be 99 euros to buy, a reasonable price especially considering that the price includes both the gadget and 6 months of all-you-can-eat email service anywhere in Europe. No roaming charges. No contract.

After that we will charge 12,90 euros per month for the service but, as opposed to other email machines out there, there is no cancellation penalty of any kind if the user does not want to continue with the service.

This is a complementary service to Fon WiFi but it is not a WiFi product. It is a GPRS product. The idea is that with Fon you share a little wifi at home and roam for free. The PeekFON addresses those moments in which you can’t find WiFi in spite of Fon´s over 800,000 hotspots now available in Europe. With the PeekFON you get the most important piece of messaging, your email, anytime.

Browsing, Twitter, and other functionalities will be added within months. For now, buyers have to think of the PeekFON as an email machine with a full keyboard.

Why is Fon launching the PeekFON?

Because in Europe, we pay huge roaming charges when we leave our own countries. As a German you can come to France and easily pay in a day what the Peek will cost in a month.

Because many people still prefer a phone that looks like a phone for phone calls and sms, and an email machine for email, and don’t mind carrying two devices that do their jobs well.

Because even if you never leave your country Blackberry services, iPhone and Android services in Europe cost around 50 euros a month and have minimum 2 year stays and include no talking minutes. So in Europe, even if you stay at home, you spend 1200 euros to get email and if you travel around Europe, you spend double that on the average. This would compare with 312 euros with PeekFON vs 2400 euros if you roam, and 1200 euros if you don’t. So there are enormous savings for getting email.

Having said all this, Fon recognizes that, “apples to apples,” a Blackberry, an iPhone or an Android is a better product than a Peek. If you have the extra money to sign 1200 euros contracts and spend a few thousand more for roaming, the Peek can’t compete with the complete iPhone, Blackberry or Android experience. But as a pure and simple email machine, the Peek can compete. And its price is reasonable.

We also recommend Americans (and Asians and other non-Europeans) coming to Europe to get a PeekFON as roaming charges by US operators are a killer over here. So much so that the iPhone for example comes with a feature to disable roaming.

The PeekFON will be available at Fon.com December 15th. It will be available for shipping to all European countries for which shipping is now provided for the Fonera. If we see demand from USA and Asia we will also have it available at our US and Asian shops to be activated when landing anywhere in Europe.

GPRS service for the PeekFON will be provided by the new pan-European MVNO for gadgets Spotnik. Fon will be Spotnik’s first customer.

PeekFon in the press:

TechCrunch
TechCrunch again
Washington Post
Alt1040
Xataka
SlashGear
Phone-Review
tech.nologi.us
Gizmología

Follow Martin Varsavsky on Twitter: twitter.com/martinvars

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  1. From Fon To Distribute Peek In Europe For €99 A Pop - December 10, 2009 12:51 pm - #

    [...] Prior to his stage appearance, Varsavsky shared the details of the distribution partnership on his widely read blog. [...]

  2. From Peek Email Device May Find Life In Europe: The PeekFON - December 10, 2009 12:55 pm - #

    [...] later posted more information on his blog. The device will be available at FON on December 15: The PeekFon will be 99 euros to buy, a [...]

  3. From Fon To Distribute Peek In Europe For €99 A Pop - bruno trani dot info - December 10, 2009 1:13 pm - #

    [...] Prior to his stage appearance, Varsavsky shared the details of the distribution partnership on his widely read blog. [...]

  4. From Peek Email Device May Find Life In Europe: The PeekFON : Bloggii – The Global News Aggregator - December 10, 2009 1:20 pm - #

    [...] later posted more information on his blog. The device will be available at FON on December 15: The PeekFon will be 99 euros to buy, a [...]

  5. From Peek Email Device May Find Life In Europe: The PeekFON | qface & sowmo sky - December 10, 2009 2:52 pm - #

    [...] later posted more information on his blog. The device will be available at FON on December 15: The PeekFon will be 99 euros to buy, a [...]

  6. From FON bringt Peek nach Europa | tobiasbischoff.com - December 10, 2009 3:17 pm - #

    [...] und Webbrowsing. Bestellt werden kann ab 15.12.2009 über die FON Webseite. Weitere Infos im Blog von FON CEO Martin Varsavksy. ShareÄhnliche ArtikelTweetie 2.1 mit ReTweet, Geolocation und [...]

  7. From FON Peek hits Europe Dec 15th: €99 with no roaming fees - SlashGear - December 10, 2009 4:35 pm - #

    [...] European launch this month, courtesy of WiFi-sharers FON.  FON’s CEO, Martin Varsavsky, has confirmed in his blog that the QWERTY handheld will arrive in Europe come December 15th, priced at €99 ($146) including [...]

  8. From FON Peek hits Europe Dec 15th: €99 with no roaming fees | Phone-Review.org - December 10, 2009 4:47 pm - #

    [...] European launch this month, courtesy of WiFi-sharers FON.  FON’s CEO, Martin Varsavsky, has confirmed in his blog that the QWERTY handheld will arrive in Europe come December 15th, priced at €99 ($146) including [...]

  9. From Peek: Fon and Spotnik are disrupting data roaming | Making Things Happen - December 10, 2009 5:25 pm - #

    [...] LeWeb ‘09 FON founder Martin Varsavsky announced Peek, a GPRS email gadget that, like Amazon’s Kindle, comes with (almost) free data [...]

  10. From MarketME - December 10, 2009 6:01 pm - #

    [...] Prior to his stage appearance, Varsavsky shared the details of the distribution partnership on his widely read blog. [...]

  11. From MarketME - December 10, 2009 6:01 pm - #

    [...] later posted more information on his blog. The device will be available at FON on December 15: The PeekFon will be 99 euros to buy, a [...]

  12. From Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges : Bloggii – The Global News Aggregator - December 10, 2009 7:20 pm - #

    [...]  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email [...]

  13. From Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges | Reaction Radio - December 10, 2009 7:23 pm - #

    [...]  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email this | Comments Go to [...]

  14. From Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges | Technology & Lifestyle Tech News - December 10, 2009 7:24 pm - #

    [...]  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email [...]

  15. From MTPH Software: Blog : Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges : - December 10, 2009 7:27 pm - #

    [...]  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email this | Comments Bookmark It Hide Sites [...]

  16. From BlogLime » Blog Archive » Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges - December 10, 2009 7:52 pm - #

    [...]  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email [...]

  17. From Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges | TechBlogs Today - December 10, 2009 8:16 pm - #

    [...]  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email [...]

  18. From Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges » News, Specs, Reviews, Features, Price - December 10, 2009 8:17 pm - #

    [...]  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email this | Comments ArrayArrayArrayArrayArrayArray Link To This Post1. [...]

  19. From Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges | Consumer Electronics Newz - December 10, 2009 8:29 pm - #

    [...]  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email this | Comments Share and [...]

  20. From Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges | Tech Zone 24 - December 10, 2009 8:46 pm - #

    [...] 2009 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink TechCrunch  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email this | Comments none Leave a commentCommentsLeave a Reply Kliknij [...]

  21. From RSS For Gadgets » Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges - December 10, 2009 11:02 pm - #

    [...] Engadget Spanish  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email this | Comments Rate this topic: (No Ratings Yet) Popularity: 0 [...]

  22. From Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges - December 11, 2009 12:12 am - #

    [...] Engadget Spanish  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email [...]

  23. From FON Peek hits Europe Dec 15th: €99 with no roaming fees | ToGadget , The Guide to Gadgets - December 11, 2009 2:36 am - #

    [...] launch this month, pleasantness of WiFi-sharers FON.  FON’s CEO, Martin Varsavsky, has confirmed in his blog which the QWERTY handheld will arrive in Europe come December 15th, labelled at €99 ($146) [...]

  24. From Funny Gadget Gifts | Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges - December 11, 2009 7:00 am - #

    [...] Engadget Spanish  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email [...]

  25. From Peek teams up with FON to liberate Europe… from roaming charges | TechRoo.com| Tech News, Gadget News - December 11, 2009 7:03 am - #

    [...] Engadget Spanish  |  Martin Varsavsky  | Email [...]

  26. From Tech Ticker | Peek Email device to launch in Europe as PeekFon - December 11, 2009 9:02 am - #

    [...] [Fon via Techcrunch] Share on: [...]

  27. From PeekFON – mobile Email-Maschine mit Datenflatrate für ganz Europa kommt! » Europa, Ganz, Emails, WLAN-Router, Unternehmen, Ganze » netzmelder - December 11, 2009 6:08 pm - #

    [...] Martin Varsavsky AKPC_IDS += [...]

  28. From ARMdevices.net » Blog Archive » PeekFON Martin Varsavsky Interview - December 12, 2009 7:17 am - #

    [...] this interview, I ask him not only about his cool new PeekFON device with Free PanEuropean GPRS Roaming, also about the current and future plans for FON WiFi roaming for the world, about firmware updates [...]

  29. From techvideoblog.com » Blog Archive » PeekFON Martin Varsavsky Interview - December 12, 2009 7:17 am - #

    [...] this interview, I ask him not only about his cool new PeekFON device with Free PanEuropean GPRS Roaming, also about the current and future plans for FON WiFi roaming for the world, about firmware updates [...]

  30. From Expogadget Blog » Peek in arrivo in Europa dal 15 dicembre - December 15, 2009 12:38 am - #

    [...] MartinVarsavsky.net [...]

Comments

  1. Posted by Freddie - December 10, 2009 3:42 am - #

    Martin,
    Pray explain why it is so much more expensive that in the US, where the classic version costs 20 USD (about 13 euros)!?
    A very good idea, nonetheless.

    Valora este comentario: (3 votos, media: 5 de 5)

  2. Posted by David - December 10, 2009 6:54 am - #

    I’m confused… I still don’t see why FON would spend time on PeekFon. It seems to have zero to do with FON otherwise. Though, I suppose this isn’t that different from other FON ideas, some of which have already spun-off into other start-ups. The question is, is FON gearing up for growth or is it getting ready with plan “B”s for when things go badly. It is hard to tell.

    Valora este comentario: (4 votos, media: 4 de 5)

  3. Posted by Roberto - December 10, 2009 9:09 am - #

    Is the Peek Pronto or the Peek Classic you are offering?

    And yes, I would not have announced this as a FON product – since they do not match well ;)

    Valora este comentario: (2 votos, media: 5 de 5)

  4. Posted by Martin Varsavsky - December 10, 2009 9:14 am - #

    Read this article David. It’s called a Profitable Fon is more Fun. It will help you understand my thinking.

    Valora este comentario: (0 votos)

  5. Posted by Martin Varsavsky - December 10, 2009 9:16 am - #

    the 99 euros includes 6 months of service AND the gadget AND pan European roaming, have you gone from one European country to another one getting mobile email?

    Valora este comentario: (2 votos, media: 3 de 5)

  6. Posted by Martin Varsavsky - December 10, 2009 9:21 am - #

    Roberto in this post I asked my readers if they would buy a PeekFon and found an incredible level of interest among them. Foneros want roaming. The PeekFon is the first email machine without roaming charges.

    Valora este comentario: (2 votos, media: 3 de 5)

  7. Posted by Juan Miguel Venturello - December 10, 2009 10:28 am - #

    Great Martin, wonderful you are bringing this to Europe. Question – does this include Switzerland?

    Live here but do business all over, very interested in device if it supports Switzerland. Thanks and best of luck with tgus venture!

    Valora este comentario: (1 voto, media: 5 de 5)

  8. Posted by gst - December 10, 2009 11:21 am - #

    “Because even if you never leave your country Blackberry services, iPhone and Android services in Europe cost around 50 euros a month and have minimum 2 year stays and include no talking minutes.”

    So lets see: I paid around 300 Euros for an unlocked Android phone that I can use with any mobile provider – I think some of the Android phones are already cheaper by now.

    And then I pay 4 Euros per month for 1 Gigabyte of traffic (and 4 more Euros for each additional Gigabyte). If I use this SIM for phone calls I pay 4 Eurocent per Minute – with the option to get 1000 minutes and 1000 SMS per month for 10 Euros. All on one single SIM (data and voice). And without any minimum contract duration – I can cancel the contract at the end of each month. (I live in Austria and use bob.at as mobile provider).

    Do I think that PeekFon is a nice gadget? Yes. But as the only use-case for me is roaming in Europe, it’ll be cheaper to buy a pre-paid SIM if I stay longer in some country. For example, in croatia I spent something like 20 Euros for a pre-paid SIM with 200 Megabytes. Saying this, I’d have to say that I really love Amazon’s Kindle. While I generally use it to read e-books, it also serves as a free e-mail machine when traveling in the US (as there is a Web browser included and as Amazon currently does not charge for the traffic).

    Valora este comentario: (1 voto, media: 5 de 5)

  9. Posted by Bastian Manintveld - December 10, 2009 11:41 am - #

    Congratulations! This is an excellent initiative. If I wouldn’t have just committed another 2 years to my mobile operator, so for Spain I’m covered, but I still might buy one just to use when I’m travelling. every day I’m roaming here in Europe costs me 10 euros + IVA for 10MB of data.

    Bastian

    Valora este comentario: (3 votos, media: 2.3 de 5)

  10. Posted by Pau Valiente - December 10, 2009 11:41 am - #

    Martín, Fon podría crear una OMV que solo ofrezca datos por europa a 12,90 €/mes sin contrato, estilo simyo. Triunfaría.

    Valora este comentario: (0 votos)

  11. Posted by steven - December 10, 2009 11:41 am - #

    Do you have an url for this “Spotnik” ?
    I can’t find this Pan-European operator ?

    Valora este comentario: (2 votos, media: 5 de 5)

  12. Posted by Pau Valiente - December 10, 2009 11:46 am - #

    Sorry, I posted in Spanish without notice.
    Translation:
    Fon could launch a OMV (in Spain a Virtual Mobile Operator) with only a data plan valid in all Europe for the 12,90 € / month.

    Valora este comentario: (2 votos, media: 3 de 5)

  13. Posted by Dario Salvelli - December 10, 2009 12:50 pm - #

    FonPeek is pretty similar to TwitterPeek (http://www.dariosalvelli.com/2009/11/twitterpeek-il-cellulare-per-twitter). True?

    Valora este comentario: (0 votos)

  14. Posted by Roberto - December 10, 2009 12:53 pm - #

    Martin,

    thanks for the answer. Please state if its the Peek Classic or the Peek Pronto.

    Well, I evaluated NutShellMail (http://nutshellmail.com/) yesterday so I would really love to know if the Peek can show HTML as well.

    And yes, I would be one of your customers for the Peek :)

    Regards,
    Roberto

    Valora este comentario: (1 voto, media: 1 de 5)

  15. Posted by GS - December 10, 2009 1:26 pm - #

    Will you be able to connect the Peek to a laptop for browsing and email?

    Valora este comentario: (2 votos, media: 5 de 5)

  16. Posted by steven - December 10, 2009 2:01 pm - #

    Will it be SIMlocked…or could I use this sim in my netbook and thus browse&surf as well :-)
    What is the speed? You mention “gprs”…does that mean as fast as an analog modem from 1996 ?
    Fast enough for emails without attachments; (I guess the Peek can not show me Office files or pdf’s?)
    or twitter…. but surfing the net?

    Valora este comentario: (2 votos, media: 5 de 5)

  17. Posted by Bigfatbball2 - December 10, 2009 2:36 pm - #

    What prevents anyone from opening the peekFon, taking out the SIM ditching it and using the SIM in an iPhone to get the unlimited roaming data for peanuts?
    13euros/months for unlimited GPRS data in EU is cheap as chips but isn’t that going to put you out of business pretty quickly.

    Also Martin do you have more details about spotnik? I’ve googled it, nothing comes up about them.

    Valora este comentario: (3 votos, media: 3.7 de 5)

  18. Posted by steven - December 10, 2009 2:46 pm - #

    @BigFatBBall2… they can simlock/devicelock it using the unique IMEI code of every device…

    Valora este comentario: (2 votos, media: 5 de 5)

  19. Posted by Martin Varsavsky - December 10, 2009 2:51 pm - #

    Email machine, nothing else. You can’t use the SIM for anything else.

    Valora este comentario: (3 votos, media: 2.3 de 5)

  20. Posted by edouardo - December 10, 2009 4:50 pm - #

    Is it the Peek Classic (with only 2 accounts, email text size limited) or the Peek Prompto (5 accounts, unlimited text) ?

    Valora este comentario: (3 votos, media: 3.7 de 5)

  21. Posted by Scott Allison - December 11, 2009 12:34 pm - #

    This is a nice piece of innovation and definitely fulfils a need. While BlackBerry providers here in the UK have roaming tariffs, they are extremely expensive. Android is particularly bad when roaming because so much of the email application depends on having a live connection all the time, fine in your home country but useless when overseas at as much as £8 per Mb! When I was at leweb I left data roaming off relying solely on the (sometimes patchy) wifi connection.

    Valora este comentario: (0 votos)

  22. Posted by gerard - December 13, 2009 3:58 pm - #

    And who is the owner of this new MVNO named Spotnik, Martin Varsavsky of course :)

    Valora este comentario: (0 votos)

  23. Posted by Bastian Manintveld - December 13, 2009 4:52 pm - #

    Hi Martin,

    I’d like to give the PeekFon as a Christmas present. Will you be able to deliver before then?

    Bastian

    Valora este comentario: (1 voto, media: 5 de 5)

  24. Posted by Krikor Ohannessian - December 13, 2009 9:07 pm - #

    i was wondering what are the odds of adding a “location-based social networking” service to the PeekFON?

    Valora este comentario: (0 votos)

  25. Posted by steven - December 13, 2009 9:19 pm - #

    If they install a 8-12kbyte application on the sim card inside the pek it would be possible to add location based social networking to the PeekFon

    More info at http://www.artilium.com/arta/applab/

    Valora este comentario: (0 votos)

  26. Posted by uno - December 14, 2009 8:07 pm - #

    #25 Steven

    Look awasome. We need something similar to save development costs.

    Valora este comentario: (0 votos)

  27. Posted by olivier - December 17, 2009 4:32 pm - #

    Great idea…

    Will you adapt the PEEK for Europe ie proposing special Keyboard mapping?

    I would die for a AZERTY french keyboard Peekfon…

    Valora este comentario: (1 voto, media: 5 de 5)

  28. Posted by bath mateus - December 18, 2009 10:44 pm - #

    I loved your posting.
    Bathmate

    Valora este comentario: (0 votos)
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