INQ Mobile, a division of Hong Kong’s Hutchison Whampoa, is making its debut today, and it’s got a handset to show what it’s trying to accomplish with 3G networks.

Hutchison Whampoa is getting into the handset business to drive more usage of its own 3G/data networks, but it also expects to work with other carriers in markets where it doesn’t own a network. Hutchison has 3G licenses in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Macau, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The INQ1 will be the first device to go on sale, in Britain and Australia this year. Details about a U.S. launch for the HSPA-capable phone were not yet available, but the company hopes to launch a device in the U.S. market next year. The company will use other partners to do the actual manufacturing of devices.

The first handset tightly integrates social networking so it’s easy for consumers to use the features from sources such as Skype, eBay and Facebook.

“The UI is really the key thing where we’re trying to make a difference in mass market Internet phones for regular people to use,” said Jeff Taylor, director of marketing in the Global 3G Handset and Application Group at Hutchison Whampoa. “The idea is it’s mass-market Internet for the rest of us.”

The company spent two years creating a mobile phone platform designed for ease of use, he said. Even the packaging reflects the intentions behind the phone. It will come with cards that list three steps to get Facebook set up, for example.

Analysts who got a sneak peak of the device came away largely impressed with the social networking aspects of it. “The value is the tight integration of these offerings so that one flows into the other seamlessly. That will do well for them,” said Shiv Bakhshi, director of mobile device technology and trends at IDC.

“I think it’s a very good, mass-market friendly coupling of high-value Internet services on the device at an affordable price point,” said Yankee Group analyst John Jackson.

The advantage for Hutchison is it has built-in demand with its own properties. It’s usually one of the smaller operators in a given market, so it needs to try innovative things, he added.

Hutchison is no stranger to innovation. It teamed with Skype to create a phone specially designed for Skype calling under the 3 brand in Europe.