Twitter made a very interesting move heading into this weekend. They went ahead and entered into an agreement with Atebits to acquire the popular ‘Tweetie’ iPhone and desktop app.
Why do this? According to Twitter CEO Evan Williams, the reason was quite clear:
“We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve entered into an agreement with Atebits (aka Loren Brichter) to acquire Tweetie, a leading iPhone Twitter client. Tweetie will be renamed Twitter for iPhone and made free (currently $2.99) in the iTunes AppStore in the coming weeks. 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.”
So there you have it… a brand-new and very official ‘Twitter for iPhone’ app is on the way. Are new features and improvements on the way? We’ll see. As an interesting aside, Twitter has also noted that a brand-spankin’ new iPad app is in the works as well.
Tweetie creator Loren Brichter must be on cloud 9, and from here on in he’ll work closely with the Twitter team to bring Tweetie to a whole new level. For this weekend only, I hope he pops the cork and enjoys a few brews with close friends and family. I of course do not know the details of the agreement, but one can assume Brichter will hold ‘money fights’ on a weekly basis (just jokes).
Congrats Loren, and good on ya Twitter. I’m very much looking forward to the official iPhone and iPad app when it arrives. Until then, I’ll keep on keepin’ on with Twitterrific.
[Via: Mashable]