INQ has canceled their planned Cloud Touch Q Android phone, initially announced early in 2011. The move has allowed the company to concentrate on new products expected later this year.
British mobile phone company INQ has informed ElectricPig.com that they’ve canceled its forthcoming Cloud Touch Q device. Announced way back at the beginning of 2011 alongside the Cloud Touch, the Q was a QWERTY-equipped touchscreen phone using Android 2.2.INQ is best known for tightly integrating social networking tools into its phones, producing not only a Skype phone — back before smartphones were the norm — but fully exploiting Facebook, Spotify and Twitter too.
A spokesperson for INQ had a quick chat with ElectricPig, saying it was a “tough decision” to cancel the Cloud Touch Q, but “the right one” in order to concentrate “on future products.” The all-touchscreen Cloud Touch remains on sale, although stocks have already been exhausted in the UK.
While it’s always sad to hear of products being canceled, the Cloud Touch Q has since been overshadowed by HTC’s ChaCha/Status, an Android Gingerbread phone with a similar design and deep Facebook integration. With the gap in the market filled, where was the Android 2.2 phone going to go?
So what’s next for INQ? Some personnel changes at the top could mean a direction change, and the arrival of Android Ice Cream Sandwich could prompt them to explore the tablet market as well as smartphones. While the company has admitted nothing new will be announced during Mobile World Congress in February, it’s pushing for a product launch during the second half of the year.
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