INQ Mobile unveils two phones for social networking
HELSINKI | Wed Feb 9, 2011 6:14pm EST
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Cell phone maker INQ Mobile unveiled on Thursday its first two smartphones running Google's Android software, aiming to benefit from booming growth in social networking.
Small INQ Mobile, a fully owned subsidiary of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, has carved itself a position in the crowded Cell phone market focusing solely on social networking focused models for youngsters.
INQ is benefiting from its early move to make reasonably priced phones for connecting to social networks and the Internet in general -- a move large handset makers like Nokia and Sony Ericsson are now following.
The new models, to be shown to the public next week at the Mobile World Congress trade show, integrate key features of social network Facebook into the phone's key applications and come with a Spotify-powered music player.
Mobile is an increasingly important driver of traffic to Facebook, which says 250 million users per month access the social network on mobile devices.
The first model, INQ Cloud Touch, will go on sale in Britain in April with around 20 pound ($32.19) monthly contracts, said Ken Johnstone, head of products at INQ.
Johnstone said the choice of increasingly popular Google's Android platform was a natural one for the company, and INQ aims to stand out among many similar models with its design and social networking features.
"It's a very capable platform and its evolving fast," Johnstone said.
"There are very many very average Android phones out there. We are trying to make other devices outdated, to stand out a little bit," he said
