“Twitter phone” from INQ gets Asian launch with SingTel

Singapore operator SingTel announced today that it’s customers will be the first in Asia to get the new device from INQ. The Mini 3G, usually just called the “Twitter phone”, will be hitting shelves in Singapore before the end of the month, exclusive to SingTel.

The INQ Mini 3G:

You can check out our earlier reports for a more detailed look at the Mini 3G, but here’s the basic break-down:
- It’s a candy-bar device with a predictive text keypad
- It was designed hand-in-hand with Twitter to make sure it works as smoothly as possible with the social network
- It has kept all of the Facebook-friendly features from the first device that INQ released
- It uses other comms channels, eg. IM, Gmail and Skype
- The device is cheap enough (under $150) that most operators will be able to afford to give it away for free with a good monthly plan

The SingTel campaign:

SingTel is really pushing this phone. Since it’s primarily a mobile social networking device, SingTel has gone to pains to bring the public in on the promotions for the phone. Last month, it launched a competition called “Are You Inq?”, where anyone could submit pieces of promotional art about social life, music and the “Singapore life”. The winners will find their designs being used in the INQ advertising campaign in Singapore.

On top of the Twitter, Facebook and IM functions of the phone, SingTel is also advertising it’s own AMPed mobile music service. If you buy the phone on one of the higher-tier monthly rates, you get free access to AMPed. Launched in July for post-paid subscribers, AMPed offers unlimited music downloads that don’t count towards your data rate.

It struck me that SingTel is pushing the Facebook features ways more than the Twitter ones. It talks about how you’ll see the Facebook profile pictures of your friends when they call, and how Facebook messages are stored in a separate section to SMS… but there’s very little mention of Twitter. I guess Facebook is where it’s at in Singapore.

No details on pricing yet, despite the fact that the device will be going on sale in SingTel shops in less than 7 days.

What we think?

I’ve stated my support for the Mini 3G before - I think it’s a great device that is designed really well for the purpose it is meant to fill. It’s cheap, it handles Facebook and Twitter with aplomb, and I think SingTel is marketing it well at it’s target audience. I’m still not sure how appealing it will be on a wider-scale, but its low-cost and dedication to text-based mobile channels should see some good sales in the younger demographics.

Also, the press release and most of the reports on this phone mention how the first device from INQ, the “Facebook phone”, won the “best handset” award from the MWC. That’s not as big as a deal as you might think. It may have won the award, but how many people do you know with the that phone? Also, Zer01 got a “best in class” award from the MWC this year…