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Aug. 5, 2009

INQ Mobile says it is introducing two new 3G social cell phones with easy access to Twitter. The new handsets are expected to hit the market in mid-October.

The INQ Chat 3G is the company’s first Qwerty-style phone and sports a new email client developed by INQ that incorporates Gmail as the main email engine.

The INQ Mini provides a lower-cost social mobile handset and suited especially for the prepaid market.

Based in London but with a recently-opened office in the San Francisco area, INQ worked closely with the Twitter team to develop the new wireless handsets, says Jeff Taylor, director of marketing and strategy at INQ.

“Our social networking application was built right into the heart of the phone,” he says. While others say their devices run Twitter, the user has to do something every time to get into the app. With INQ, “the user doesn’t have to do anything,” he says. “We built a completely different platform, and that's the whole difference.”

INQ isn't ready to announce any wireless carriers that will be selling the new phones but Taylor says the company is hoping to launch the new devices sometime in the relatively near future. INQ Mobile is owned by Hutchison, and its first device has since been distributed in Europe, Hong Kong and Australia.

After the initial log in, Twitter will be “always on.” Consumers can send tweets and retweet via the Internet rather than using SMS. With the INQ Chat, a specially designed Twitter widget will deliver Twitter updates straight to the home screen.

So far, no U.S. wireless operators have signed on, but conversations are advancing and the company is hopeful about getting a U.S. carrier on board real soon.

INQ says that about 65 percent of existing INQ device owners use Facebook regularly. About 30 percent use their INQ frequently for e-mail, and Windows Live Messenger activity is three to four times greater than on comparably priced 3G phones.

Pricing for the two new handsets isn’t available yet because that will be up to its carrier customers, but the expectation is the phones will cost wireless carriers less than $200 each.

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Source: INQ Mobile.