Yahoo Tech reports that INQ Mobile plans to launch a Twitter phone. Yahoo Tech says the phone would be out in time for the holidays and cost under $140. The new phone will use Internet connections to send tweets instead of using Twitter's SMS system. The photo pictured above is INQ's nicely packaged first phone, INQ1.
The model would be the first mass-market phone -- costing operators less than $140 -- with an Internet-based Twitter client, said Frank Meehan, chief executive of INQ.
Meehan said in an interview the phone will use Internet connections for sending the 140-character messages, called Tweets, not text messages as in Twitter's own service.
"This can really help open up and drive Twitter use on mobile when usage becomes part of your data package like on the PC," he said.
INQ already has a phone called INQ1 that has Facebook built into the handset. Smartphones can already connect with Twitter using applications but heavy Twitter users might be interested in a device that is specifically designed to work with Twitter. INQ Mobile can be found on Twitter here.
