Aircel will sell INQ mobiles in India
16-03-2010
Milestone for INQ Mobile, which pioneered cheaper social networking phones
Aircel will sell the two latest handset models of British phone maker INQ Mobile, which specializes in reasonably priced phones for connecting to social networks and the Internet. Aircel aims to tap surging demand for mobile social networking in India.
The deal is a milestone for INQ Mobile, a unit of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa, which so far has sold its phones mostly through Hutchison's operators in different countries.
The INQ Mini 3G and the INQ Chat 3G will be available later this week, the companies said.
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 Motorola are only now following.
INQ Mini 3G is the first mass-market phone with an Internet-based Twitter A Web site and service that lets users send short text messages from their cellphones to a group of friends.
The majority of visits to online social networks are still made by people sitting at a computer telling their friends where they are and how they are feeling, exchanging opinions on their favorite movies and music or up loading pictures.
INQ, however, has proved the spontaneous and personal nature of much of that communication also lends itself to the handset.
The INQ1 model, dubbed the Facebook phone, won the award for best phone at the Mobile World Congress trade show in February 2009.
Aircel will sell the two latest handset models of British phone maker INQ Mobile, which specializes in reasonably priced phones for connecting to social networks and the Internet. Aircel aims to tap surging demand for mobile social networking in India.
The deal is a milestone for INQ Mobile, a unit of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa, which so far has sold its phones mostly through Hutchison's operators in different countries.
The INQ Mini 3G and the INQ Chat 3G will be available later this week, the companies said.
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 Motorola are only now following.
INQ Mini 3G is the first mass-market phone with an Internet-based Twitter A Web site and service that lets users send short text messages from their cellphones to a group of friends.
The majority of visits to online social networks are still made by people sitting at a computer telling their friends where they are and how they are feeling, exchanging opinions on their favorite movies and music or up loading pictures.
INQ, however, has proved the spontaneous and personal nature of much of that communication also lends itself to the handset.
The INQ1 model, dubbed the Facebook phone, won the award for best phone at the Mobile World Congress trade show in February 2009.
