Monday, INQ Mobile and Foursquare announced that they were collaborating on a similar home screen experience for INQ's lineup of Android devices. The mobile marriage will help users better discover and explore nearby places via Foursquare.
The pending release will offer OS-level Foursquare integration -- just as is the case with Facebook integration on the INQ "Facebook Phone" -- for a deep Foursquare connection that gives users instant access to location-sharing and recommendation features.
"Because it’s built directly into the Android system, you can check in and explore without even firing up the application," Foursquare wrote on the company blog.
According to INQ's press materials on the to-be-scheduled release, "Users will be able to swipe back and forth between Facebook and Foursquare home screens, depending on what they are doing, what they are looking for and who they want to connect with."
What we have, then, is a lineup of super-socialized INQ handsets that will level the Facebook/Foursquare playing field. Both will compete for user attention on INQ devices' dual home screens. One company may be looking towards one billion users and the other ten million; but in the eyes of the handset maker, the social networks, which battle in the location arena, are equals.