We’re pretty big fans of the Twitter Android app Twidroid here at IntoMobile, so it’s good to hear that the company has been acquired by TweetUp.
The app will be renamed Twidroyd – probably to avoid any legal complications from the “Droid” name, which is patented by George Lucas – and TweetUp said the program will be preloaded on “millions” of Android handsets in the future from five major handset makers. There’s no word on what the acquisition price was but the move should give Twidroyd the resources to grow and expand.
“We are extremely fortunate to have been able to join forces with TweetUp,” said Thomas Marban, founder of Twidroyd, in a prepared statement. “With their resources and experience along with the bundling deals we have developed with a number of the leading device manufacturers, we believe Twidroyd can widen its lead as the top Android client for Twitter users and aggressively grow our distribution while taking advantage of TweetUp’s business model for uncovering the best tweeters on topics of interest to our users.”
Of course, TweetUp and Twidroyd will have its hands full, as Twitter already has an official Android client in the Android Market. The official client will have more brand recognition and it should also be the first result when you search for a Twitter client on an Android phone.
Can Twidroyd overcome this disadvantage? It’s not going to be easy, especially considering Twitter has a reputation for eating its young in the developer space. But, if the folks at TweetUp can work on the user interface, get those preloaded deals and expand the service to include more than just the micro-blogging site, it will have a fighting chance. If nothing else, the move will spur Twitter and others to step up their games, which is always a good thing for you and me.
How say you, readers? What’s your favorite Android Twitter app?
[Via Twidroyd]