Liveblogging the INQ and 3 conference where the INQ1 is revealed

Today 3 and INQ introduce a new mobile into the market and we’re here liveblogging it to give you the latest news right NOW.

11.10am

PRICING- £15 per month for unlimited Skype, MSN messaging and unlimited calls to 3 customers. You also get 75 minutes a month for cross network calling, and unlimited texts. The PAYG phone will be £79.99 from December. A monthly top up of £19 gets you free Facebook, Skype, MSN and £5 of talk and text. That’s pretty cheap. I’m off to have a play now, watch this space for a video.

11.01am
We can look forward to new exciting things in 2009. I wonder what’s next?

11.03am
We get an insight into what people use 3 handsets for. In October there were 20 million Skype minutes bought, 36 million Skype chats and 2.5million emails sent. That’s a lot of internet traffic!

11am. Videos from people who use the web and have tested the phone. It’s stressed they’re ‘real’ people. Enter Kirsty who says she uses it for 2 hours a day. Oh dear. Then she reveals she’s from Newcastle. That explains it.

They tell us they have 7600 million internet sites, and have the largest UK mobile broadband. They plan to have 13000 sites live by 2010, and want to become the biggest network in the world.

10.57 am
Mark Zuckerberg takes to the stage on a live feed from Palo Alto. He tells you how excited he is about the INQ.

10.53
Branding chat. Apparently the Orange marketing guys are involved, and this means they have ‘fused the spirit of the web’. Got to love the buzz words huh? Their ethos is easy, accessible and ‘social’, and the handsets are called social mobiles.

Blake Chandless commercial director of Facebook takes the stage. He’s just repeated the word mobility 3 times. I wonder what the theme could be?

10.52am
Woo! Music buffs worldwide will be happy to know last.fm has been integrated into the media player. Convergence of mobile phones and the internet seems to be forefront here. It’s not a huge surprise, as the phone is all about affordable pricing, useful services and a good user interface.

10.50 Actual specs are revealed! It has HSDPA and a 3.2 mega pixel camera. We’re back to the web functions again. The phone has been so integrated with the web that when you check your text messages it incorporates your Facebook chats and new alerts. It may end up being rather overwhelming as you’ll literally be available 24/7 but that’s just how the world is heading nowadays. If they change their online Avatar it updates on your phone, and as it’s all so interlinked it makes it easy to multitask. For instance you could be having an IM conversation when eBay send you a message to tell you you’ve been outbid!

10.45
You get a widget manager on the INQ1 which includes a selection of interesting apps such as Weather, RSS feeds and Google, which will automatically update. The widget menu can be updated, and isn’t limited to the ones it launches with, as eBay will be debuting later this year.

10.44am

The menu on the INQ1 has been created for ease of use, as there’s a selection of icons that you can programme which are focused around what people want; including messaging, Facebook, and quick links.

It’s not a Facebook app, it’s a client based programme which goes into your social network and syncs your contacts, integrating images, messages and details to your phonebook.. As it’s client based you can schedule posts, wall messages and play with it WHILST ON THE TUBE, allowing it to update when you get back into signal.

10.30 am. People are excited and there’s a feeling of anticipation in the bowels of Shoreditch studios as we wait to hear about 3 and INQ’s collaboration.

We’re introduced to Kevin Russel, the CEO of 3.He starts to tell us about their research into what mobile users want.

What do people use mobile internet for? They want it for mail, social networking and VOIP. We get taken through 3’s research into the principles behind successful phones.