Inq Mobile

Last updated
Inq Mobile
Company type Subsidiary
IndustryCommunications
Founded2008
Defunct31 January 2014
Headquarters
Battersea, London
,
United Kingdom
Key people
Ken Johnstone (CEO and Co-founder), Tom Mansbridge (Head of Marketing), Simon Davies (Head of Product Management), David Powell (Head of User Experience)
Products Social software, App
Number of employees
N/A
Parent Hutchison Whampoa
Website inqmobile.com

Inq was a social software and app manufacturer who launched two successful software products and a series of award-winning handsets. Material, Inq's personalised magazine, became the top free news app in the UK App Store and achieved a number 4 position in the US, shortly after launch. [1] SO.HO, a social launcher developed by Inq, was also warmly received with press positioning it as an alternative to Facebook Home. [2]

Contents

Prior to focusing on software, Inq released a series of "social mobiles" for which they were awarded "Best Newcomer" and "Best Handset" at the GSMA in 2009. [3]

In January 2014 Inq announced that the business was to close down and that the apps they had in market would not be updated after this point. [4]

Company Overview

Inq held offices in London and Rome and employed between 11 and 50 staff across the two offices.

The company was founded in 2007 by Ken Johnstone (Inq's current CEO), Frank Meehan and Jeff Taylor. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa and is backed by Li Ka-shing who is Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa and is also an investor in Facebook and Spotify.[ citation needed ]

Inq Software and Apps

Inq launched two software only products in 2013; Material a discovery app that delivered each of its users a personalised magazine based on their interests and SO.HO, a launcher and app that brought together Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in one place. Shortly after its release, the Material iOS app became a [5] and achieved a number 4 rank in the Free News chart in the US app store. [5]

Inq describe their apps as social software and parts of the functionality are based on surfacing social networks or using elements from the social graph.

Material

Inq describe Material as a "personalised magazine" that "hunts out content based on your interests". [6] The app delivers a fresh update of content twice a day, grouping each delivery into a "morning/evening edition" The topics and stories in each edition are personalised to match the interests of each user and users can also add topics via a menu. The more a user uses Material, the more it learns about his or her interests. [7] Users may also add additional topics of interest. [8] In a press release regarding the product, CEO Ken Johnstone positioned Material as an anti-dote to content overload stating "With the avalanche of content out there, we're focused on finding new and exciting ways for people to get directly to the things they love. Material was the result of this thinking, an app that takes all the hard work out of finding great stuff.” [9] and Inq state that the discovery app will help users "discover new content from new places". [10] Material is available for iPhone and Android smartphones.

Inq released Material in BETA as an Android only product. The BETA app was praised by press for "its colorful and intelligent design" [11] and UI. Similarly the Android public showed an interest in the app with the BETA achieving over 50,000 installs. [12] In August 2014 Inq launched an iOS version of Material which had a redesigned UI and improvements to Inq's “interest extraction engine,” which forms the intelligence behind the app. Shortly after its release, the Material iOS app became a number 1 app in the Free News category and achieved a rank of number 4 rank in the Free News chart in the US app store. [1]

The app has been compared by press to other personalised news services such as Flipboard and Zite. In a review of the Material app, VentureBeat commented "While there are quite a few news-reading apps out there and Flipboard holds the dominant position, Material sets itself apart with design and intelligent curation." [13] Unlike Flipboard, the makers of MATERIAL claim it will "evolve with you", learning what you like and recognising when your interests change [14]

SO.HO

The mobile launcher, SO.HO was launched by Inq for Android devices in 2013 The interface was designed by Chris Kelly. [15] SO.HO allows the user to have Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds on their homescreen, additionally the homescreen app allows for tweets, status updates, likes and comments to be made through the launcher. [16] The launcher provides the user a full screen version of their respective Twitter, Instagram and Facebook networks after they unlock their phone, in a similar manner to Facebook Home or HTC Blinkfeed. [17] SO.HO is available in English, Spanish (Europe/US) Portuguese, Korean, Hindi, Italian, German and French. In press commentary about the launcher, Inq initially stated that they intend to add more social networks to the launcher. [18] However more recent updates to the app have added in bespoke social media feeds that mix content from multiple networks in one view. The SO.HO feed is described by Ina as "a place where you can see the latest videos, pictures and links shared from all your friends across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram." [19] whilst the "Hashtag feed" shows users "the conversations happening right now across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram about that subject". [19]

Inq Phones

When it was founded in 2007, Inq's business model focused on creating affordable, mid-range smartphones which deeply integrated social networking and a range of usability features. Inq phones were sold in Canada, India, Singapore, UK, Austria, Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy and Sweden.

As per news reports, Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel), on 14 September 2009 announced that it would be start selling the social networking phone INQ Mini 3G, developed by INQ mobile. This phone launched on 19 September 2009 in Singapore. [20] On 18 March 2010 Aircel in India started selling the INQ Mini and INQ Chat, and on 28 July 2010 the INQ Chat went on sale in Canada from Telus and Koodo. [21] [22]

In January 2013 Inq announced that they would no longer manufacture handsets but would focus exclusively on producing social software. A Venturebeat article at CES quoted Ken Johnston as saying that “We’ve finished up with hardware a year ago, and we’ve been working our app engine since then,” Inq CEO and cofounder Ken Johnstone said last night at a CES 2013 event. [23] Inq stated on their Facebook page that they will not be making further handsets but that they will continue to support those who own an Inq handset.

INQ1

The INQ1 was INQ's first mobile phone. It was released in December 2008, featuring a 2.2" QVGA screen, and a 3.2megapixel camera. Applications on the phone include: Skype, Last.fm, eBay, Facebook, Myspace and Windows Live Messenger.

INQ Mini 3G

The follow on from the INQ1, this time with added Twitter functionality. Sharing a similar design to its 'sister' phone the Chat 3G, interchangeable back covers are available to purchase. The phone has a 2.0megapixel camera and was launched at £39.99 in the UK. 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.

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.

INQ Chat 3G

The 'big sister' to the Mini 3G, featuring similar functionality. However, the phone has an additional QWERTY keyboard, a 3.2megapixel camera and a GPS device.

Inq Cloud Touch

The first of INQ's new Android-powered phones, moving away from BREW used in their previous phones. The mobile has more integration to Facebook than the previous phones, with direct access from the homescreen to popular aspects like Chat and Places. This is also the first INQ phone to feature Spotify, which replaces a proprietary music player altogether. The Cloud Touch has a button dedicated to Spotify so you can access immediately, in addition to an 'Info' button for quick access to settings and information. The phone has a 3.5" HVGA touchscreen, and will be available in three different colours from April in the UK. [24]


Social networks and related services embedded into Inq phones

History

Inq was founded in 2008 by Ken Johnstone, Frank Meehan and Jeff Taylor. In August 2009, the company launched two phones-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. 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. [25]

In September 2010 news reports speculated about rumors that Facebook and Inq were working together on a “Facebook Phone”. [26] To date no Facebook phone has emerged from either Inq or Facebook themselves.

In June 2011 it was reported that Jeff Taylor had left the company to start his own venture with Inq PR Head Soheb Panja [27] This was followed by an announcement in September 2011 that Frank Meehan had been replaced as CEO by Ken Johnstone, co-founder and formerly Director of Products for Inq.

In January 2013 Inq announced that they would be focusing exclusively on producing social software moving forward and would no longer be involved in the manufacture or distribution of handsets. A Venturebeat article at CES quoted Ken Johnston as saying that “We’ve finished up with hardware a year ago, and we’ve been working our app engine since then,” Inq CEO and cofounder Ken Johnstone said last night at a CES 2013 event. [23] This announcement was followed by a company rebrand, at which the company redesigned its logo and began to write the company name as Inq Mobile rather than the original INQ.

Inq launched a beta version of MATERIAL, a content discovery engine in February 2013. In an interview with Pocket-lint MATERIAL was positioned as a continuation of the Inq business, rather than a pivot from phones, with Pocket-Lint writing that "Inq is no stranger to "social DNA". The brief foray into devices with the INQ Cloud Touch back in 2011 very much centred on a granular integration of services like Facebook, helping important content rise to the surface. That ethos still sits at the core of what Inq is working on.". [28] Other titles presented MATERIAL as a "pivot" for Inq, suggesting a change in business strategy. [29]

Inq followed this with the launch a second beta app, SO.HO in May 2013. [30] SO.HO (short for Social Homescreen) is an Android launcher. On the Inq Mobile blog, Inq say that SO.HO "allows you to put your favourite social networks on the homescreen of your Android mobile so that you can check what’s happening on multiple social networks without diving in and out of apps."

In August 2013 Inq launched the iOS version of Material and brought the Android version of Material out of beta. The launch of Material for iPhone was covered by many key press titles including Engagdet, TechCrunch and Venturebeat.

As of 31 January 2014 they have ceased operations, the last issue of Material was on the 28th. SO.HO will continue to work but will no longer be offered/updated. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unstructured Supplementary Service Data</span> Communications protocol

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), sometimes referred to as "quick codes" or "feature codes", is a communications protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the mobile network operator's computers. USSD can be used for WAP browsing, prepaid callback service, mobile-money services, location-based content services, menu-based information services, and as part of configuring the phone on the network. The service does not require a messaging app, and does not incur charges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bing Mobile</span> Web search for mobile devices

Bing for mobile is a search tool for handheld mobile devices from Microsoft as part of their Bing search engine. It is designed for mobile device displays. Bing Mobile is built into Windows Mobile and Windows Phone as proprietary software, accessed via the Search key on Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 devices. It is also available on Windows Phone 8.1, and can be downloaded for other platforms, including and Android.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile social network</span> Social networking on mobile devices

Mobile social networking is social networking where individuals with similar interests converse and connect with one another through their mobile phone and/or tablet. Much like web-based social networking, mobile social networking occurs in virtual communities.

Keek is a free online social networking service that allowed its users to upload video status updates, which are called "keeks". Users can post keeks to the Keek website using a webcam or via the Keek mobile apps for iPhone, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, or Android. Users could also reply back with text or video comments, known as "keekbacks", and share content to other major social media networks. There was also an embed option so users could embed their keeks into a blog or website.

The INQ1 is the first product of the Hutchinson Whampoa subsidiary, INQ. The INQ1 was released in December 2008 as a social-networking phone. Retailing at a cheaper price than competitors such as the iPhone, Blackberry Storm, G1 and Nokia 5800, it also contains slightly fewer features than other 3G 'smartphones'. It is thus marketed as an entry-level phone for users wanting to access websites and web-base applications from their mobile. The phone was created for the 3 phone network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockmelt</span> Chromium-based web browser

Rockmelt is a discontinued proprietary social media web browser developed by Tim Howes and Eric Vishria based on the Google Chromium project, incorporating social media features such as Facebook chat, Twitter notifications and widgetised areas for other content providers such as YouTube and local newspapers. The Rockmelt web browser project was backed by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen. In April 2013, Rockmelt discontinued its desktop web browser, replacing it with a collaborative project bringing together social elements from various sources.

The INQ Chat 3G is a fully featured, 3G enabled "Candy Bar" smartphone created by the British manufacturer INQ, designed to easily interface with popular social media applications.

The INQ Mini 3G is a 3G enabled "Candy Bar" smartphone created by "social phone developer" INQ. The INQ Mini 3G features Twitter, Facebook, Skype and Windows Live Messenger applications embed deep into the phone's Operating System. The phone has a numeric keypad, a 2-megapixel camera and a 2.2" screen. The phone is the second handset from INQ and succeeds the "Best mobile handset award 2009" winner INQ1.

Flipboard is a news aggregator and social network aggregation company based in Palo Alto, California, with offices in New York, Vancouver, and Beijing. Its software, also known as Flipboard, was first released in July 2010. It aggregates content from social media, news feeds, photo sharing sites, and other websites, presents it in magazine format, and allows users to "flip" through the articles, images, and videos being shared. Readers can also save stories into Flipboard magazines. As of March 2016 the company claims there have been 28 million magazines created by users on Flipboard. The service can be accessed via web browser, or by a Flipboard application for Microsoft Windows and macOS, and via mobile apps for iOS and Android. The client software is available at no charge and is localized in 21 languages.

This is a list of smartphones manufactured by Acer. They either run Android or Windows Mobile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WhatsApp</span> Messaging and VoIP service owned by Meta Platforms

WhatsApp is an instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by technology conglomerate Meta. It allows users to send text, voice messages and video messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices, and can be accessed from computers. The service requires a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app called WhatsApp Business which can communicate with the standard WhatsApp client.

Microsoft mobile services are a set of proprietary mobile services created specifically for mobile devices; they are typically offered through mobile applications and mobile browser for Windows Phone platforms, BREW, and Java. Microsoft's mobile services are typically connected with a Microsoft account and often come preinstalled on Microsoft's own mobile operating systems while they are offered via various means for other platforms. Microsoft started to develop for mobile computing platforms with the launch of Windows CE in 1996 and later added Microsoft's Pocket Office suite to their Handheld PC line of PDAs in April 2000. From December 2014 to June 2015, Microsoft made a number of corporate acquisitions, buying several of the top applications listed in Google Play and the App Store including Acompli, Sunrise Calendar, Datazen, Wunderlist, Echo Notification Lockscreen, and MileIQ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lumia imaging apps</span> Imaging applications for Lumia devices

Lumia imaging apps are imaging applications by Microsoft Mobile and formerly by Nokia for Lumia devices built on the technology of Scalado. The Lumia imaging applications were notably all branded with "Nokia" in front of their names, but after Microsoft acquired Nokia's devices and services business the Nokia branding was superseded with "Lumia", and often updates included nothing but name changes, but for the Lumia Camera this included a new wide range of feature additions. Most of the imaging applications are developed by the Microsoft Lund division. As part of the release of Windows 10 Mobile and the integration of Lumia imaging features into the Windows Camera and Microsoft Photos applications some of these applications stopped working in October 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">News360</span> Personalized news aggregation app for smartphones, tablets and the web

News360 was a personalized news aggregation app for smartphones, tablets and the web. It attempted to learn a user's interests by analyzing their interaction with news stories on the app and using semantic analysis and natural language processing to create an Interest Graph and construct a unique feed of relevant content for each user. The app claimed an audience of more than 4 million users.

The HTC First is an Android smartphone released by HTC on April 12, 2013. It was unveiled on April 4, 2013, as part of a press event held by Facebook. Serving as a successor to a pair of Facebook-oriented devices HTC released in 2011, it was the first and only Android device to be pre-loaded with Facebook's own user interface layer, Facebook Home, in lieu of HTC's own Sense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nokia Asha 501</span>

Nokia Asha 501 is a low-end smartphone from the Nokia Asha series, announced by Nokia on 9 May 2013 in India, and released on 24 June 2013. The device is classified by Nokia as a "Full Touch" smartphone. The phone is available in either single- or dual SIM configuration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upptalk</span> Proprietary voice-over-IP service and software application

Upptalk was a proprietary voice-over-IP service and software application that provided mobile phone numbers in the cloud and allows users to call or text any phone for free whether or not the device receiving the calls and texts has the Yuilop application. The service was discontinued in 2017 and even its domain was abandoned.. Upptalk, formerly known as Yuilop, is officially transitioning to an Edtech company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Facebook Paper</span> Standalone mobile app by Facebook

Facebook Paper was a standalone mobile app created by Facebook, only for iOS, that intended to serve as a phone-based equivalent of a newspaper or magazine. The app was announced by Facebook on January 30, 2014, and released for iOS on February 3, 2014. The iPhone app appeared in the iOS App Store as "Paper – stories from Facebook"; there was no iPad version. Facebook shut Paper down on July 29, 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hike Messenger</span> Instant messaging app

Hike Messenger, aka Hike Sticker Chat, was a multifunctional Indian adware application offering instant messaging (IM) and Voice over IP (VoIP) services that was launched on December 11, 2012, by Kavin Bharti Mittal. Hike functioned through SMS. The app registration used a standard, one-time password (OTP) based authentication process.

Comparison of user features of messaging platforms refers to a comparison of all the various user features of various electronic instant messaging platforms. This includes a wide variety of resources; it includes standalone apps, platforms within websites, computer software, and various internal functions available on specific devices, such as iMessage for iPhones.

References

  1. 1 2 Material: Tailored magazine featuring news, blogs & RSS - Daily Ranks | App Annie
  2. ↑ Why settle for Facebook Home when you can have Twitter Home, too? | VentureBeat | Social | by John Koetsier
  3. ↑ YouTube
  4. 1 2 Tung, Liam. "Facebook-phone and app maker Inq quietly shuts up shop". ZDNet. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  5. 1 2 App Annie Ranking (Subscription Required)
  6. ↑ "Inq Mobile". Archived from the original on 2013-09-04. Retrieved 2013-09-10.
  7. ↑ Belic, Dusan (28 April 2013). "Inq's personalized magazine Material comes to the iPhone". IntoMobile.
  8. ↑ Karlson, Douglas (26 February 2013). "Inq Mobile's MATERIAL Personalizes Content…". ContentStandard. skyword.[ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ "Inq Mobile press area". Archived from the original on 2014-01-18. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
  10. ↑ YouTube
  11. ↑ Inq's stunning Material app launches to take down Flipboard & Grokr | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Sean Ludwig
  12. ↑ INQ Extends Its Social Magazine App, Material, To iOS After 50,000+ Downloads On Android | TechCrunch
  13. ↑ Material, a sexy Flipboard competitor, comes to the iPhone | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Sean Ludwig
  14. ↑ "Inq Social Mobile".
  15. ↑ "Chris Kelly: Designer". Chris Kelly. Archived from the original on March 30, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  16. ↑ "SOHO Android App Combines Facebook and Twitter Feeds as Homescreen". LAPTOP. Retrieved March 11, 2013.
  17. ↑ "SOHO Social Homescreen Launcher Hits Play Store Beta". Android Central. 6 March 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2013.
  18. ↑ ","http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/50261/inq-soho-social-homepage-is-like-blink-feed "Inq SO.HO brings HTC Blink Feed-like features to all Androids -". 6 March 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  19. 1 2 "SO.HO [SOHO Social Homescreen] - Android Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Archived from the original on 2013-07-21.
  20. ↑ "Tele Sutra: Telecom, Technology and Digital Media» Are you INQ?". Archived from the original on 2009-09-22. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
  21. ↑ "INQ Chat 3G | Smartphones | Phones & devices | TELUS Mobility". Archived from the original on 2010-07-30. Retrieved 2010-10-02.
  22. ↑ Aircel Delhi- Mobile Service Provider, Postpaid & Prepaid Mobile Plans, 3G Services [ permanent dead link ]
  23. 1 2 Former 'Facebook phone' maker Inq pivots to apps with beautiful Flipboard killer Material | VentureBeat | Mobile | by Sean Ludwig
  24. ↑ INQ Cloud Touch and Cloud Q Press Release
  25. ↑ "The Global Mobile Awards 2021".
  26. ↑ "Facebook Said to Be Working on Phones With Partner INQ for AT&T - BusinessWeek". www.businessweek.com. Archived from the original on 2010-09-29.
  27. ↑ "Mobile Today - INQ co-founder Jeff Taylor leaves to set up consultancy". Archived from the original on 2012-04-19. Retrieved 2012-02-04.
  28. ↑ INQ Material serves up your daily news based on Twitter and Facebook 'social DNA' - Pocket-lint
  29. ↑ "After scrapping phone business, INQ pivots into app maker - FierceMobileIT". Archived from the original on 2013-06-20. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
  30. ↑ "Inq Social Mobile".

51°28′48″N0°10′11″W / 51.4799°N 0.1696°W / 51.4799; -0.1696

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.