INQ Says Is Working With Spotify on Phones

British cell-phone maker INQ is developing phones that make it easy for owners to use Spotify, an online music service that’s amassed millions of users in Europe, said INQ CEO
Frank Meehan.
INQ’s goal is to deeply integrate Spotify’s services into its upcoming phones, Meehan said in an interview. He didn’t provide any additional details.
INQ’s phones are currently available in seven countries. Two of INQ’s planned smartphones will become available through AT&T in the U.S. mid-next year, three people told Bloomberg in September. The phones, which will land on store shelves in Europe next spring, will make it easier to access services from social network Facebook, as well as several other Web sites, one of the people said.
Meehan declined to comment on whether INQ is working on new phones that would include Facebook services.
Spotify has long been working to enter the U.S. market. The music service can already be accessed as an application for phones that run Microsoft’s Windows Phone, Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android and the Symbian operating system which runs on many Nokia handsets.
INQ may be able to make Spotify even easier to use, by making it unnecessary for consumers to launch an application. INQ’s existing three handsets provide access to Facebook, Twitter and Skype features right from the phone’s home screen: Whenever a Facebook friend posts a new photo, it appears on your home screen, for example. INQ phones with Spotify and Facebook on them will likely feature similar capabilities. If these phones are successful, they could spur growth for both Spotify and INQ worldwide.

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