Inq Mobile
| File:INQ Logo.jpg | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Communications |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Frank Meehan, CEO and Founder Jeff Taylor, Marketing Director and Co-Founder Ken Johnstone, Product Director and Co-Founder |
| Products | Mobile phones |
Number of employees | N/A |
| Parent | Hutchison Whampoa |
| Website | http://inqmobile.com |
INQ is a mobile phone manufacturer, headquartered in London, England with offices in Rome, San Francisco, Beijing and Hong Kong, Toronto, Seattle, Singapore and Delhi.
It is a fully owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa and was founded in 2008 by Frank Meehan, who was previously General Manager of 3G Handsets and Applications for Hutchison Whampoa. INQ is backed by Li Ka-shing who is Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa and is also an investor in Facebook and Spotify.
INQ concentrate on affordable, mid-range smartphones which deeply integrate social networking and a range of usability features. INQ's first handset, the INQ1 won Phone of the Year at the 2009 GSMA Awards in Barcelona which are known informally as the industry Oscars. The judges highlighted the handset's affordability, deep integration of social networks and ease of use in their winner's announcement.[1]
The INQ1 is notable for its very tight integration with Windows Live Messenger, Facebook and Skype. It was endorsed at launch by Mark Zuckerberg and other industry identities. INQ phones are currently sold in Canada, India, Singapore, UK, Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy and Sweden.
A high level of firmware branding is present in the phone's operating system, this signifies a push for highly proprietary "for the network, by the network" mobile telephones which are extremely hard to unlock or debrand. In September 2009 INQ publicly stated that the company would build phones based on the Android mobile operating system, and claims they will be ready in early 2011.
In August 2009 the company launched two new models-the INQ Mini 3G (a candy-bar type form factor with Twitter and Facebook) and the INQ Chat 3G (a QWERTY device with Twitter, Facebook and GMail integration). Both models went on sale in Q4 2009 and feature removable coloured back panels.
As per news reports, Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel), on September 14, 2009 announced that it would be start selling the social networking phone INQ Mini 3G, developed by INQ mobile. This phone launched on September 19, 2009 in Singapore.[2]
On March 18, 2010 Aircel in India started selling the INQ Mini and INQ Chat, and on July 28, 2010 the INQ Chat went onsale in Canada from Telus and Koodo.[3][4]
In September 2010 news reports speculated about rumors that Facebook and INQ are working together on a “Facebook Phone” that will be delivered early in 2011.[5]
Social networks and related services embedded into INQ phones
Phones
Carriers that sell INQ devices
- Aircel (India)
- SingTel (Singapore)
- Vodafone Australia
- Telus (Canada)
- Koodo (Canada)
- 3 UK
- 3 Italy
- 3 Sweden
- 3 Ireland
- 3 Austria
- 3 Hong Kong
Competitors
Management team
- Frank Meehan, Founder and CEO
- Jeff Taylor, Co-Founder and Director of Marketing
- Ken Johnstone, Co-Founder and Director of Products and Design
- Amit Gupta, Director of Engineering
- Matthew Waite, Director of Operations
- Kinson Loo, President of INQ Greater China
References
- ^ http://www.globalmobileawards.com/awards/winners_archive.shtml#winner_cat3a
- ^ http://www.telesutra.com/2009/09/14/are-you-inq/
- ^ http://www.telusmobility.com/en/AB/inq_chat/index.shtml
- ^ http://www.aircel.com/AircelPortal/aircel.portal;jsessionid=wwgsMmQT3SQRH6bpTpXt7gV562LmKGk1nY0Rnyb7TscPhMdRFQ1Z!1748620133!226056627?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Products_Inq_pages_inqHome_inq_landing_page&circleName=Delhi
- ^ http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-22/facebook-said-to-be-working-on-phones-with-partner-inq-for-at-t.html