INQ’s passion to change the world doesn’t stop at mobile phones. We recently sponsored 50 people to cycle around Zanzibar, raising funds for ‘The Makunduchi Project’. This vital project is aimed at transforming hospitals, healthcare and the lives of the people of Zanzibar.

Suzie, one of our sponsored cyclists, proudly reported that all 50 participants (including 3 toddlers on a bike trailer!) finished the 300km journey in one piece. All together they raised over £40,000, which will be used to build a new maternity ward and facilities at Makunduchi hospital.

Cheering on the team were the children of Zanzibar, shouting ‘Jambo Jambo!’ (Hello, Hello!) as they passed, and were overjoyed at the presence of helpers, despite the poverty stricken conditions. These thriving young kids were shining examples of how every bit of help counts. Poor healthcare means most of children in Zanzibar don’t see their second birthday.

Other highlights from the trip, include the team’s first hand experience of work done at Makunduchi hospital - nurses and doctors were working on a 22 year old mother with life threatening pneumonia and a new born baby - both living with HIV. Also, thanks to mobile communications and Skype, quick communications with the UK team made instant medical assistance possible, saving the lives of countless new borns.

There were many other memorable moments. We know that no trip goes without lost luggage, lost flight bookings, lost passports, and this particular cycling adventure presented the team with the challenge of lost essential bike parts, and the odd broken bone or two! Team INQ solved the lost luggage fiasco by sending over INQ branded t-shirts, a small act that goes a long way for the workers of Makunduchi where clothing essentials are very much in short supply.

INQ is proud to support people like Suzie and her team of heroes - a little giving can go a very long way. To play your part in ‘The Makunduchi Project’, check out http://www.justgiving.com/susieandtim, and join the friends of Makunduchi on Facebook. Every bit helps.

On Saturday the first episode of KOKO POP was shown on T4, presented by girl of the moment Jameela Jamil. The show had a great line up featuring artists Chipmunk and Paloma Faith.

Yesterday, behind the doors of the famous KOKO in London, fans were having an awesome time for the recording of the next episode of KOKO POP. Some had traveled into the capital from as far as Wales and Manchester to see Tinie Tempah debut his new single Pass Out. Marina and The Diamonds, Example, Daisy Dares You were the other acts that drove the crowd wild. Taio Cruz then closed the show and his set was well worth the wait as the crowd hit absolute delirium.

Tinie Tempah and Example were interviewed for Radio INQ, you can still requests songs to be played for Radio INQ here. Catch it on Spotify. Three lucky winners also won an INQ Chat 3G. We’ve got some great photos of the fans and they’ll be on the INQ Facebook page.

Episode 2 will be shown on Saturday on T4. There’s another KOKO POP recording this Sunday, keep an eye on the KOKO POP website and become a fan of INQ on Facebook to be the first to know who will be performing. Don’t miss out!

Here’s a few photos from yesterday, more will be on Facebook really soon.

Tinie Tempah interviewed for Radio INQ

More photos will be on facebook.com/inqmobile

Daisy Dares You performing at KOKO POP: Presented by INQ

Just under a fortnight ago, INQ won ‘Most Innovative Product’ at the Mobile News Awards, for breaking new ground with the qwerty INQ Chat 3G handset.

That was in London. Fast forward eleven days to Hong Kong where a few hours ago INQ was presented with the Ming Pao Daily 2010 E-trend Award. The award went to the entire INQ handset range and was selected by readers and the judging panel as one of the most trendiest electronic products in Hong Kong.

The Ming Pao Daily is one of the most circulated and respected newspapers in Hong Kong and we’re really proud to have picked up such a great award.

Here’s a picture from the awards ceremony last night. Keep an eye on the INQ Facebook and Twitter page for the latest updates and photos.

Horn please! INQ has arrived in one of the biggest and most exciting mobile markets in the world: INDIA! Both the INQ Mini 3G and Chat 3G are now on sale across the country.

The numbers of Indians signing up to Facebook and Twitter has been incredible over the last 12 months, with Facebook now the most visited social networking site in India. So we’re really excited about reaching the millions of people who love communicating via social networks but have so far had to connect via a PC.

Today in New Delhi, CEO Frank Meehan presented INQ to the Indian media. The event organised in collaboration with Aircel, India’s most progressive network operator, and the network the INQ phones will be available on.

We’ve specially customised our phones for India with two important additions: the introduction of CricInfo as one of the widgets to satisfy the millions of cricket-obsessed Indians; and Orkut has also been added to make the INQ handsets the primary social tool for those in India.

There’s going to be a lot of exciting news from INQ in India. To be the first in the know, check out our Twitter page for the latest on what we’re up to.

INQ are nursing hangovers today after throwing the party at the big international industry awards event in Barcelona last night.

It started off quite politely, with Stephen Fry, the host for our bash, greeting Duran Duran with a cry of “my darlings” and throwing his arm around the band which has sold more than 100 million records.

The hair was as spectacular as ever, the jeans looked a little uncomfortable. Proving wild boys never lose it, Duran Duran performed like the stars they are.

They started with a bang. View to a Kill set the tone for a crowd singing along and jumping around to songs like The Reflex, Wild Boys and a finale of Rio which saw an ever-growing group of women (and one enthusiastic man) join the band on stage.

The band were spotted at the INQ after party at the W Hotel. Team INQ staggered out in the wee small hours. Some of us are still unaccounted for….

For all updates and photos live from Barcelona, follow us on Twitter and Facebook

INQ’s expansion plans have led to the opening of new offices in Beijing, Singapore and Silicon Valley in California. Yesterday we announced senior appointments including that of Kinson Loo, who joins as INQ president for Greater China.

Kinson joins from Sony Ericsson where he was Corporate Vice President and Head of Region in China. He will be based in the Beijing office to spearhead INQ into China and the far east. “Being part of INQ is being part of one of those very few opportunities to join a new company that is leading a reshaping of an industry, and China will clearly be at the forefront of that change in the next decade,” Kinson said.

CEO Frank Meehan welcomed Kinson and said “Kinson will be building a world class team in China to support our business there and in the rest of the world.”

The other key acquisition is Jim Hudak who becomes General Manager and Vice President of Americas. Jim joins from social mobile internet company iSkoot where he was Head of Global Business Development.

Frank Meehan said: “We are gearing up for an exciting 2010. We laid some amazing building blocks during our first year in business, and we are ready to grow this year. More high calibre people will join the business over the coming months as we continue to pursue our mission to reinvigorate the mobile market with amazing communications and internet devices available to more people.”

With pretty much all of the UK under a cold spell these days, Twitter’s trending topics have frequently been occupied by the hashtag #uksnow. Now, we’re not weather forecasters, but the interaction and fascination of #uksnow grabbed our attention, like it did all over the Twitter network.

The idea was to send a tweet using the hashtag #uksnow, followed by your postcode and a rating out of 10 of the snow in your area. It enabled anyone on Twitter to be able to get real time, genuine updates on snow in a specified area.

We asked Twitter users to send us some Twitpics of the snow in their area by mentioning @INQMobile. The INQ Chat 3G makes it simple and easy to upload pictures and update Twitter straight from the phone.

We’ve taken a small selection and posted them here. Thanks to everyone who mentioned us in their Tweets and @Relentl3ss @martincouzins @iamkreative for the images below! You can follow us on Twitter by clicking here.

Racoon not fond of #uksnow

Ice Hockey Snowman

Building an Igloo

Tooco is all about the odd…
The Argentinean illustrator’s name is three vowels and two consonants chosen at random. His work is just as off the wall, a mix of everything from robots to abstract patterns.

Tooco started his career with architect training, but he left as he found it creatively limiting: “short was the ride between beams and scaffolding.” After experimenting with a few things, he landed up in illustration, where he taught himself everything he needed to know.

Buildings in his blood and randomness on his mind
A man who looks and touches things in a different way, Tooco is all about fun. He believes “that what matters most is to do what we really know we like, deep inside.”

He now teaches as part of a design professorship in Buenos Aires and works on illustrations in his studio:

Discover more:

Tooco’s website showcasing his latest work.

Collection of his published and exhibited work (including on teapots!) on Flickr.

His design professorship at the University of Buenos Aires.

It’s been just over a month since our first ‘Things We’re Tweeting About’ feature and a lot has been happening at INQ. We’ve been very busy with the launch of the INQ Chat 3G, but there’s always a moment to send a tweet. Here’s a selection of our favorites.

Youtube

440 hours to produce 84 seconds of film. To mark the tenth anniversary of The Matrix - here’s the lego version

World’s luckiest guy. We had to watch this again in slow-mo!

INQ founder Frank Meehan discussing Social Mobile

Social Snippets

Flirting via Twitter? Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher give it a try for the world to see.

Plants happen to have a social life too. You learn something new everyday huh?

This was a tweeting revelation! The cunning fox on the London Underground!

Italian cover of Vogue with a slight hint of Twitter about it

Man killed off on Facebook - a prank taken too far?

Cool and Random

How a web design goes straight to hell.

Skype’s phone box experiment - a few of us excitedly called up but sadly didn’t get through!

A gorilla made out of coat hangers!?

What’s being promised now for the future? We’ve already been let down without getting the flying car or undersea colonies!

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

FROM INQ MOBILE

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