Tweetie becomes Twitter for iPhone. Where does that leave Blackberry and Windows Phone?

 

In an unsurprising move, Twitter has acquired atebits and their excellent client for iPhone (Tweetie) will become Twitter for iPhone. With that renaming, does Twitter close the door to Tweetie continuing on OSX, let alone appearing at some point in the future on & Windows Phone 7? I could understand to some extend Twitter choosing not to invest in desktop OS’es but it’d be a shame to see their official Twitter client restricted only to iPhone. Sure it has the lions share of the Smartphone market and there are other clients on Windows Phone and Blackberry but will having the “official” Twitter client only on iPhone be a good or bad thing?

Time will tell. Meantime, Dare has a detailed and thoughtful post on the topic

Comments

• Anonymous
  April 10, 2010
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  April 10, 2010
  Looks like the reality distortion field is still working its magic for Apple - iPhone OS 4.0 doesn't do real multi-tasking; it just runs certain service apps in the background. As an ex WM user and current iPhone owner I would say there's as many holes in the iPhone platform as there is WM. There's a way to go in the mobile space so it would be unwise to count anyone out of the running yet. One last thing... a quote from Steve Jobs: "In multitasking, if you see a task manager... they blew it. Users shouldn't ever have to think about it". Um, so what's that you see when you double click the home button in iPhone OS 4.0?.

• Anonymous
  April 10, 2010
  I don't think they'll be restricting their client to iphone only, that wouldn't make good business sense when they could be charging blackberry and other smart phone like android users for the app as well. They're probably just making the name special for the iphone, doesn't mean the app is exclusive.

• Anonymous
  April 10, 2010
  I can't see much sense in Twitter restricting clients to the iPhone either. I would interpret this move as one step on Twitter's path. Interesting comments Peter, but I do think Microsoft are doing what they need to do and started such over a year ago when they back into redevlopment. There are plenty of indicators they will be a serious contendor at the least. I think they just listened to the wrong people inititally about what consumers wanted in a handset.

• Anonymous
  April 10, 2010
  I for one am truly excited about the forthcoming launch of WM7. As a current iPhone user and former WM user. I don't need to tell anyone that the UX of Apple's platform is smoother than today's WM offering. However, as a technologist. I firmly believe the iPhone was good for Microsoft. It has forced the company to think hard about its future mobile strategy. Don't underestimate Microsoft in the mobile space however. Even if they do have serious competition in the consumer smartphone space. I do agree with Steve, that it would be a shame to restrict tweetie just to the iPhone. This would be a very bad move. It's in Twitter best interests to further develop "official" apps across all platforms. My issue with WM was that it always felt it was designed for the business market. It just never felt consumer friendly.  It was a business/geek's smartphone.  The iPhone was positioned as a consumer smartphone first and business device second. WM is an amazing platform.  I just want to see Microsoft commit to it, extend it, invest in it and give me no choice but to love the platform again. WM7 might just very well bring me back...

• Anonymous
  April 11, 2010
  I downloaded the free version for my iPhone and it comes with the addition of being able to delete your tweets.Its very simple and intuitive program.Its perfect for iPhone so i think it will be good for both Blackberry and Windows 7 phone.