An official Twitter app is now available for the iPhone. Apparently, it was not developed by the Twitter team internally, instead they decided to choose which existing iPhone Twitter app was the best and decided to just buy it from the developer. The reason behind the move was because of the number of available Twitter apps that were just not doing a good job. A universal app would make sure that everyone would have full, worry-free access to the site without paying for anything.
The “Tweetie” app was made by a company called Atebits. The company which has the slogan “suspiciously simple software” also develops software for the Mac platform.
Upon a visit to the company website, you will notice that their Tweetie app has won the Apple Design Award in the Apple Developer Showcase last 2009. The guy behind the iPhone creation, Loren Brichter, has not only sold his Tweetie to Twitter, he has also decided to work for them to make apps like the Twitter app for the iPad. Loren Brichter had this to say about his move into corporate:
“Over the last year and a half Tweetie has gone from a no-name app from a little known software company to an app hailed as one of the best mobile experiences around. It’s been featured in TIME and Wired, won the Apple Design Award, and I’ve had the privilege of working with the folks at Twitter from the outside as their service evolved. Now I’ll be working with them on the inside. I’m happy to say that as of today Twitter is the proud owner of Tweetie.”
Aside from giving users a universal Twitter app for their iPhone, the team will also drop the price to zero. Yes, you heard right, it will now be a free app for iPhone users all around.
More about the Tweetie can be found at Geek.