Wireless

INQ Mobile's new phones: the INQ Chat 3G and INQ Mini.

(Credit: INQ Mobile)

Cellphone maker INQ Mobile is launching two new low-cost cellphones optimized for social networking applications to give mobile subscribers alternatives to more expensive smartphones.

INQ, which is owned by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa, launched its first low-cost, "smartphone-lite" device earlier this year. And now the company is expanding its portfolio with two new devices, one of which has a full QWERTY keypad.

The phones do not run full browsers and the operating system used on the device is Java-based and not nearly as sophisticated as smartphone operating systems used on devices such as the Apple iPhone or Research in Motion's BlackBerry.

But INQ has integrated many of the most popular Web services, such as Facebook and Twitter, onto their handsets to give consumers a smartphone-like experience at a much lower price point. And because the device is not considered a smartphone, subscribers can typically sign up for less expensive data plans using the INQ phones.

In addition to tight integration for one-click access to Facebook, Twitter, and other Web services like Skype, the new INQ devices can also sync with unprotected music stored in iTunes and Windows Media Player.

Just how cheap are the INQ phones? Well, if AT&T can sell the Apple iPhone for $99 with a two-year contract, INQ CEO Frank Meehan believes that U.S. operators could afford to offer the INQ mobile devices for anywhere between $25 and $50 with a two year wireless service contract. And in many cases operators could even offer the phones for free in exchange for a two-year service commitment.

The two new phones announced this week are the INQ Chat 3G phone, which has a full-QWERTY keypad and looks like a colorful BlackBerry, and the INQ Mini, which is shaped like a candy-bar and comes with a standard cell phone keypad. The devices are expected to go on sale in six countries on Hutchison's operator 3 later this year. These countries include the U.K., Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Australia, and Hong Kong.

The Mini, which will cost less than $150 without a carrier subsidy, will go on sale in September. And the INQ Chat 3G, which will retail for less than $200 without a carrier subsidy, will go on sale in October.

Meehan said the company is still working on a deal with a U.S. operator. But the phones could end up on this side of the Atlantic next year.

With products like the Outlook add-on Xobni relying on Facebook to give Outlook contacts a Facebook face to go with the name, it was only a matter of time before a mobile app started doing the same.

(Credit: Research in Motion)

On Tuesday, RIM released the latest edition of Facebook for BlackBerry, version 1.5. In it, the BlackBerry-maker loads on new features to integrate your BlackBerry contact information with that contact's Facebook photo. If you choose, the app will update the existing photos in your BlackBerry contact list with your Facebook friends' profile photos, an association you can also create manually in Facebook, by clicking a friend's name. From that screen, you can request a friend's phone number, and view their BlackBerry contact information.

Your friend's photo shows up in the address book along with their Facebook name. You'll still be able to click their number to call, or to utilize a shortcut to poke a buddy or open Facebook for you to draft a personal message or wall note. In addition, the new Facebook for BlackBerry will also plot birthdays and events onto your BlackBerry calendar.

RIM has also integrated messages and status updates into the BlackBerry. Conversations will now show up as an IM thread in the application, and as a message in your phone's message list. We tried it out with a direct message, and minutes later the message showed up in our Message in-box, along with a cursor blinking in a blank field to facilitate a quick reply.

RIM tells us in a press release that the latest update adds support for French, Italian German Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Czech, Traditional/Simplified Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Facebook for BlackBerry is available now from mobile.blackberry.com via the mobile browser or from www.blackberry.com/go/facebook from the desktop. If you can wait a day, downloading the app through the BlackBerry App World program on your phone (running version 4.2 of the operating system or higher) is the best way to get the app--if you change phones or accidentally delete the program, you'll be able to re-download it hassle-free.

Microsoft is roaring into CTIA. Redmond's grab bag of assorted announcements take in new Windows Live applications, the Windows Mobile application Marketplace (including word of that elusive Facebook app), and new themes featuring designs from haute fashionista (and Target chum) Isaac Mizrahi. The news gives Microsoft's mobile arm a much-needed jolt of excitement to follow up on its February announcement of the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Windows Live, Hotmail, Facebook
For more than a year, we've been wondering when Facebook and Microsoft were going to grace Windows Mobile phones with an official and native Facebook app like its free, downloadable applications for BlackBerry, iPhone, and Palm. While we weren't able to get anything out of Facebook back then, on Tuesday, Microsoft made Facebook's presence official. Microsoft's Facebook application is due in April, followed by a native MySpace application set to descend sometime "in summer."

For those who live in the moment, Microsoft has already made Windows Live for Windows Mobile available to download on platforms running version 6 of the operating system or higher. The Windows Live services suite installs mobile versions of Hotmail, Messenger, Live Contacts, Spaces, and Live Search on the phone. Those with older phones can still access Hotmail with a new beta version optimized for the Web, accessible at m.mail.live.com.

Windows Marketplace: Apps and refunds
Not to be outdone by Apple and BlackBerry, Microsoft is readying its own application storefront, dubbed Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The few details released in advance of Microsoft's Thursday keynote showcase application developers whose apps will be featured in the mobile Marketplace. EA Mobile, Gameloft, and Hands-On Mobile are well-known game makers. AP Mobile, Accuweather, and Pandora also stand out in an otherwise obscure lineup.

Also Marketplace related, Microsoft says it will let customers buy applications two ways--through a credit card, or as an add-on to the monthly cellular bill. In addition, Microsoft will let remorseful users return unwanted applications within 24 hours of purchasing, a refund service that neither Apple nor RIM has offered so far for the iTunes App Store or forthcoming BlackBerry App World.

Mobile devices are becoming the virtual newspaper.

According to a report released Monday by market researcher comScore, the number of U.S. residents using mobile devices to access news and information more than doubled to 63.2 million in January over the previous year.

"Over the course of the past year, we have seen use of mobile Internet evolve from an occasional activity to being a daily part of their lives," Mark Donovan, comScore's senior vice president of mobile, said in a statement. "This underscores the growing importance of the mobile medium as consumers become more reliant on their mobile devices to access time-sensitive and utilitarian information."

Applications that can be downloaded to the phone, such as maps, have helped drive the growth in using mobile devices to access news and information, Donovan noted in the report. And text-based searches have also contributed to the rise in popularity of accessing news and information via a phone.

In the U.S., the number of unique mobile phone users who access news and information on a daily business has grown to 22.4 million in January over the previous year. And here's a look at how the categories stack up on a daily usage basis:

(Credit: comScore Inc.)

While news and information accounted for the largest slice of mobile Internet users in January, social networking or blogging grew at an even greater rate, according to comScore.

This category grew more than four-fold to 9.3 million daily mobile unique users, according to the report.

The Inq1 phone will be optimized for Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, Last.fm, and Skype, 3 says.

(Credit: 3)

LONDON--Mobile operator 3 has unveiled a phone designed for accessing Web 2.0 services such as Facebook that it hopes will do for data consumption what Apple's iPhone has done for smartphone uptake.

Speaking at a launch event here, Kevin Russell, CEO of 3, said: "The iPhone is a fabulous product--a breakthrough in usability. The Google (Android) phone is an exciting direction. But for us, we want to open this whole marketplace up, in terms of usage of data for mobiles."

The operator announced that it will be offering the new phone, the Inq1, to tap into rising demand for data services, made by new maker Inq under the brand name Social Mobile. The device has been designed for always-on integration, with a range of mobile social networking and instant-messaging services, including Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, and Skype.

Frank Meehan, CEO of Inq--and previously director and general manager of 3G handsets and products for 3's parent company, Hutchison Whampoa--said the vast majority of existing mobile-Internet customers use their phones for e-mail, social networking, VoIP, IM, and video sharing, yet mass-market handsets have not typically been designed with these services in mind.

"If you get the user interface right--easy to use, with access to key services--like the iPhone, like the BlackBerry...you can really drive (mobile Internet) usage up," he said.

Here's a closer look at the Inq1.

(Credit: 3)

The phone is client-based so it syncs in the background with Web services such as Facebook, pulling in contact and profile data, and updating it automatically. The client system also means that social-networking services can still be used when there is no network reception, for instance, on the London Underground.

The slider-style candybar design--which has a traditional 12-key keypad--runs Inq's own operating system, which is based on Qualcomm's BREW (Binary Run-time Environment for Wireless). On 3, the monthly subscription will be 15 British pounds, while the device will cost 79.99 pounds on a pay-as-you-go agreement.

It is intended to be the first of "many" social mobiles, Meehan added, including a full QWERTY offering.

The two CEOs added that they are hoping for other operators to adopt Social Mobile, after an initial period of exclusivity to 3. However, Russell claimed that the big incumbent operators are not as likely to embrace mobile Internet services in the way 3 is. "Their desire to embrace the Internet is not great; their desire to hang on to their existing customers is great," he said.

Social Mobile will be launched in the United Kingdom in the next few months, according to 3.

Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com reported from London.

Motorola, which has been struggling to find a home run hitter to replace its Razr, appears to be gearing up to debut a social-networking smartphone that uses Google's mobile operating system, Android, according to a BusinessWeek report.

Motorola's Android phone, according to the report, is expected to feature a touch screen similar to Apple's popular iPhone, as well as a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that allows users to connect to such social-networking sites as MySpace and Facebook. It is unclear how similar it will be to T-Mobile USA's newly released G1 phone, manufactured by HTC, which also uses Android.

The phone is anticipated to make its U.S. debut in the second quarter of next year, according to sources cited in the BusinessWeek report, which noted that carriers have already seen spec sheets and images of the devices.

Motorola's Android phone may carry a price of approximately $150 to $180, with a two-year carrier contract, according to the report.