INQ Mobile, the subsidiary of Hutchinson Whampoa, plans to release the Twitter phone by the end of the year.
Frank Meehan, chief executive of INQ told Reuters, that the model would cost operators less than $140 with an Internet-based Twitter client. The phone will use Internet connections for sending the 140-character messages, called Tweets, not text messages as in Twitter’s own service.
Meehan also said that INQ has sold 700,000 phones since the introduction of the Skype phone in 2007.
INQ1, which has won the 2009 Global Mobile Award for the best mobile handset, has brought mobile social networking to the people, with Facebook, Skype, Yahoo, Google and instant messaging applications.
According to industry sources, 3, which is also a subsidiary of Hutchinson Whampoa, is likely to offer Twitter phone in the UK. Rumours also surround that the Twitter phone would not be exclusive to 3.
