The cutthroat smartphone market has claimed another victim. Inq Mobile, a UK-based company that made mobile phones before switching to social software development, yesterday closed its doors for the last time: “Inq has done some exciting and innovative things over the past few years, but we’ll be closing our doors on 31st January 2014.”
Inq Mobile was founded in 2007 and it released a number of mid-range mobile phones, including a number that offered integration with Facebook and Twitter. As HTC has found out since, most famously with the HTC First which failed miserably in early 2013, such a feature has yet to prove popular among consumers. Its first device, the INQ1, launched in late 2008 with a 2.2-inch QVGA (240×320) display. It even won a “Best Handset” award at MWC 2009. Inq Mobile launched the INQ Cloud Touch, its first Android smartphone and also last ever handset in early 2011. It was carried in Canada by TELUS Mobility.
A switch to software development in early 2013 was not enough to save the company as apps such as Material, a news reader, and SO.HO, a social media aggregator, never really caught on.
RIP, Inq Mobile.
Sources : Inq Mobile // Re/code