INQ Mobile Building Twitter PhoneINQ Mobile Building Twitter Phone

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INQ Mobile Building Twitter Phone

Twitter addicts will soon have a phone dedicated to the popular microblogging service, as INQ Mobile said it would be rolling out a Twitter handset by the end of the year.

The company is known for creating low-cost phones that have strong integration with social Web services. Its INQ1, which is called the "Facebook phone," has deep ties with Facebook, Skype, Windows Live Messenger, and other Web services. For example, all Facebook messages, pokes, and notifications are sent to a unified inbox on the phone, and users can quickly upload photos from the device to the social network.

INQ wants to create a phone that has tight integration with Twitter as well, and it will use a cellular data connection to send Twitter messages, or tweets. Regular cell phone users can send tweets already, but they have to do this with SMS messages.

"This can really help open up and drive Twitter use on mobile when usage becomes part of your data package like on the PC," said INQ CEO Frank Meehan in an interview with Reuters.

Smartphones like the iPhone, BlackBerry Storm, and T-Mobile G1 can access and interact with Twitter through the mobile Web or with specific applications, but INQ is looking to gain traction by offering a low-cost device. The company wants its Twitter phone to cost less than $140 and it will hit stores in the U.K. market by the holiday season, and then move to the U.S. market in 2010.

The move shows the growing importance of access to Web services while on the go, and Jupiter Research said there will be more than 600 million mobile social network users by 2012. Easy access to these sites could be a key differentiator for cell phone makers, and companies like Nokia and Motorola are working on having tighter integration with these Web services.

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