On April 9, Twitter made its first software purchase, buying Atebits, the company responsible for the Tweetie iPhone app. The app will be renamed Twitter for iPhone and will be available for free in the next few weeks, says Twitter CEO Evan Williams. Tweetie 2, the updated version of the original Tweetie app, is currently available for $2.99 on iTunes. Although there are other paid and free apps which users can run to access Twitter, Tweetie is one of the most popular clients in the pack. In Twitter's blog announcement, the company also said that Twitter for iPad is on its way soon.
What does all of this mean? Well, now users will have access to one of the top Twitter apps available -- for free. This creates stiff competition for app developers who have been making money off of their unofficial apps up until now.
Even though apps like TweetDeck and Echofon are free, they earn money from advertisements. Now that Twitter has its own app, advertisers may be more likely to go to the official app rather than others. For the user, however, this is great news. Twitter will ensure that their app functions well and that their users are satisfied, beginning with waiving the cost of their revitalized program. Happy tweeting!
