INQ to integrate Foursquare in its smartphones

The company famous for its Social Phones is now looking at the popular location based service.

INQ Mobile, owned by Hutchison Whampoa and based in London, has always had social networks into its DNA. After launching a Skype phone, INQ fully integrated Twitter in a phone and at last Mobile World Congress they launched two smartphones that integrate a complete Facebook experience. Now the company decided to focus into the location game and announced a deep integration with the Foursquare API featuring check-ins, recommendations, places nearby, tips and things to do.

Dennis Crowley, Foursquare’s CEO said:

This is an awesome demonstration of the power of Foursquare. We’re psyched that INQ has chosen Foursquare to power the location layer on the INQ Cloud Touch.

Because it’s built directly into the Android system, you can check-in and explore without even firing up the application

Frank Meehan, INQ’s CEO, said:

The Foursquare experience on INQ is all about engaging a customer to really explore and discover interesting places. First, we’re looking to make it really easy for a consumer to discover and sign up to Foursquare itself, via the start-up sequence. Then we’re taking Foursquare’s great knowledge of the world around you and visualizing that on your home screen, enabling you to explore events, restaurants, clubs, etc. and even bookmark places in a to-do list

European and Asian users of the INQ Cloud Touch should start receiving the firmware update with Foursquare integration in less than two months.

via Foursquare Blog and INQ Mobile Blog