Inq launching Twitter phone for the holiday season
Inq, a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, is prepping a new phone which will be all about making Twitter its primary form of messaging.
There is no argument that Twitter has taken over the social media world, and now it appears it may also be slowly inching its way into being a mandatory mobile tool as well. Although many phones have Twitter applications already, most notably the iPhone and various BlackBerry models, you have also been able to send text messages to the service for ages to be posted to your account. While all of these methods have been simple, what could you do with a phone that is built around full Twitter integration? This is exactly the question that Inq is aiming to answer.
Already known for their popular Skype phone, which has sold over 700,000 units thus far, according to Reuters, Inq is now prepping a phone that will be all about Twitter. The handset will use an Internet connection to send your 140-character Tweets to the service as opposed to using text messaging. While there was no specific word on how you will be able to check your friends timeline, replies or direct messages, you have to assume all of those features will be included if the phone is going to be completely built around the service.
Inq is certainly making a name for itself with social media branded phones. This past February they won an award for the best handset for their INQ1 device, also known as ‘the Facebook phone’, at the Mobile World Congress trade show. The handset integrated Facebook with the phone’s address book, making it unnecessary to log in to the social network separately. According Marc Allera, director of sales and marketing at operator 3 UK, the carrier for the Facebook phone, the INQ1 shows usage three to four times that of a normal phone, so Inq must be doing something right.
A firm release date and price are not available at this time, just expect to see the Twitter phone sometimes towards the holiday shopping season.
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