Twitter ’s popularity has spawned an industry of its own. Made up of people who found great value in the real-time microblog, we’ve seen its influence generating an entire slew of third-party aggregators, status trackers and metrics monitors across various platforms and even spilling over to merchandise like shirts and cupcakes.
And it must really be something if Twitter recognizes one such entity, especially if they decide to pursue acquisition as it did recently with the iPhone client Tweetie .
According to the official announcement posted by the microblog’s founder and CEO Evan Williams on the Twitter blog , Twitter has reached an agreement with the app developer Atebits to acquire Tweetie. While the client is currently being sold on the iTune AppStore for $2.99, Twitter says that it will be polished and officially re-christened as Twitter for iPhone and will have a resurfacing on the AppStore within the coming weeks. Twitter for the iPad will follow eventually though Twitter has not even hinted a release date.
As part of the acquisition, Atebits founder and developer, Loren Brichter, will also climb aboard the Twitter mothership, joining its mobile team. Williams stated on the post, “Loren will become a key member of our mobile team that is already having huge impact with device makers and service providers around the world.”
Loren, meanwhile, expressed on the Atebits blog his excitement on switching from being a third-party app developer to officially moving under the Twitter umbrella. He also reveals that he will be joining the team to start turning Tweetie.app into Twitter.app for both the iPhone and the iPad.
“It’s been a wild ride since 1.0, and over the last year and a half Tweetie has gone from a no-name app from a little known software company to an app hailed as one of the best mobile experiences around.” Brichter said. “I’m really looking forward to the next generation of mobile clients, and hopefully the next time you hear from me it’ll be on the Twitter blog!”
While both blog posts expressly declared the future of the Twitter/Tweetie acquisition’s mobile aspects, both parties have yet to open up discussion regarding the desktop’s fate. Rest assured we’ll bring you updates once word comes out.
Tags: Microblogs, News, Real-Time, social networks, Twitter
[...] use, the microblogging and messaging tool launched its official app for the Blackberry and acquired Atebits to retcon Tweetie as Twitter for iPhone within the same week last month. Now, hot off the heels of its obvious [...]