Twitter Acquires Tweetie Parent Company, Setting Developers Ablaze

Twitter made some quite big moves over the weekend and managed to set its developer community ablaze in the process. It launched its own Blackberry app and, much more importantly, it bought the company behind Tweetie, one of the most popular Twitter client apps for the iPhone. Twitter says it will launch a Tweetie version with the official brand, dubbed simply Twitter for iPhone. Normally this wouldn't be much of a problem, but Twitter is a company built on the strength of third-party developers. It has now reached a stage where it's ready to take on more responsibilities, but it can't do it at the expense of its developer community.

"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," Twitter CEO Evan Williams wrote.

"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's work won the 2009 Apple Design Award and we will eventually launch Twitter for iPad with his help," he added.

The official reason, the need for a better Twitter experience on iTunes, is flimsy at best, but the move is probably a good one for Twitter, if it can do it without disrupting its relationship with developers too much. One possible reason for the acquisition, and the need for an official app, that has been put forward looks very solid. Twitter is working on an advertising platform and it needs to make sure that the ads make it into mobile and desktop apps as well, not just on its website.

Considering that much of its traffic, more than half, comes from apps and not Twitter.com, this is crucial. By acquiring Tweetie, Twitter is creating an avenue for the ads, but it's also sending out a friendly 'warning' to developers, 'If you don't implement the ads, we will.' Since the initial announcement, Twitter has been trying to calm everyone down saying that it's as committed to the platform as it has ever been.

Still, developers are worried. Competition from Twitter itself is not easy to take on. An official app will always be at a great advantage even if it's technically inferior. However, plenty of companies have built businesses using someone else's platform even when that very company offers an alternative as well. It will be an unwelcomed change for Twitter developers, but it's not an impossible task by any means. Twitter's first developer conference, Chirp, is scheduled this week and this issue will definitely be one of the main discussion points.