When asked about the possibility, Twitter CEO Dick Costello said that the company does not have any plans on creating a Twitter-branded smartphone in the future. Remember, though, that the Facebook PR people offered the same response when asked about the possibility of a Facebook-branded smartphone.

Costello did go on to say that he would like to “see deeper integration of Twitter on smartphones,” which is really what we’re getting now with the “Facebook phones” from INQ and HTC. Does this mean that we could soon be seeing “Twitter phones” anyway? Maybe.

For my part, I don’t want a Facebook phone or a Twitter phone. I want an Android phone and, if it happens to have some social networking integration, all the better. Does it really matter how it’s branded?

[MB]

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INQ Mobile is showing off the prototype of their “Facebook phone,” an Android-based smartphone with deep Facebook integration called the Cloud Touch. It’s got Facebook chat, the news feed on the home screen, and FB events integrated into the Google calendar.

For those outside of North America, they’ve also integrated Spotify, which allows you to stream music from your home computer to your phone whenever, wherever. The service isn’t available in the U.S. or Canada yet, so when the Cloud Touch comes this way later this year we’ll have the default music player.

INQ will be releasing the phone to the international market in May, with an unannounced release date for North America.

This is not an “official” Facebook phone, it’s just optimized for Facebook.  We know where Facebook stands on having an official phone, this INQ handset could be what the rumors were referring to unless we see something from HTC in the days to come.

[Business Insider via Tech Crunch]

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The phone on the left is the INQ Mini. You get a standard numeric keypad, so all your texting will come by way of T9 predictive text. The black and red color scheme is bold, yet stylish, and it comes pre-installed with a slew of applications. Featured front and center, for instance, is the Twitter client. Tweet to your heart’s delight. (Don’t forget to follow Mobilemag and follow me while you’re at it.)

The phone on the right is the INQ Chat and it almost gives you the sense that it’s trying to be a BlackBerry. You get a larger landscape-oriented display, a full QWERTY keyboard, and the built-in Twitter app for mobile tweeting. As I understand it, both phones will also come with a range of tools for media, photos, games, messages, and more.

The good news is that INQ plans on launching both the INQ Mini and the INQ Chat in the fourth quarter of this year. The bad news is that INQ has yet to ink a deal with any North American carriers, so it might be a while before you actually have an opportunity to buy and use them.

Source: Newlaunches

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