The humble telephone, at one time purely for voice-to-voice communication, now with a new competitor in town. The proposed (and rather crassly named) INQ1 from 3 functions to keep you ‘Alive with your social life’ and up-to-date with any number of SNSs that are streamed straight to your mobile.
Intended for launch by the UK’s mobile retailer 3 – their marketing pitch for the INQ1 is as follows;
- It has a slick new browser with ‘auto-landscape’ that changes the orientation view when you rotate the phone.
- It gives you high-speed internet access. And can be used as a plug & play modem with your laptop.
I’m asking myself how is this different from the ‘slickness’ of Apple’s iPhone and haven’t Google recently launched their own mobile that holds similar possibilties with ‘high-speed intenert access’.
The main thrust of difference seems to be in the marketing message where 3 have hooked onto social networking to give a higher profile to otherwise very familiar sounding technology.
Accodingly the INQ1 will allow access to Skype, Facebook, Windows Live Messenger, Last.fm, and with eBay support for all those on-the-go purchases.
The INQ1 as an example of innovation for new technology? No. But a definate ‘hit’ in terms of those marketing gurus. Here the mobile really is the message, and the message reads loud and clear as, ‘social networking is the future of social media’.
About Dr Mariann Hardey
I hold the position of Lecturer in Social Media Marketing at Durham Business School. I also spend too much time enjoying social technologies, media+ stuff. That'll make me a Geek then. And a gal.
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