Los Angeles — In a move foreshadowed by Twitter board member Fred Wilson’s blog post earlier this week, Twitter, which has thrived thanks to tools built by outside developers, is taking more of those tools under its own wing. In a move that is sure to rattle its developers, Twitter in a late Friday announcement caught users off guard by acquiring Atebits, the start-up that makes the Tweetie apps for using Twitter on Mac computers and iPhones.
According to the company, Twitter officially announced that it has entered into an agreement with Atebits and with this acquisition, Tweetie will remain largely unchanged in terms of functionality but will be renamed “Twitter for iPhone,” which will be available free of cost, instead of $2.99, in the iTunes AppStore. The acquisition price was not disclosed.
Here is the slightly trim down explanation of why it bought one: “Careful analysis of the Twitter user experience in the iTunes AppStore revealed massive room for improvement. People are looking for an app from Twitter, and they are not able to find one. So, they get confused and give up,” wrote Twitter CEO Evan Williams on the site’s official blog. “It is important that we optimize for user benefit and create an awesome experience.”
The move marks a new approach, as Twitter makes its first endeavor into providing a mobile and desktop application itself. Twitter investor Fred Wilson, fended off those fears in a controversial blog post in which he mentioned that many third-party Twitter services, including mobile clients like Tweetie’s, are components that Twitter should offer itself. Rather, he suggested that developers focus on other kinds of services, like business tools, analytics or gaming.
Tweetie, created by Atebits’ sole employee Loren Brichter, was an Apple Design Award winner last year as one of the best iPhone apps. The deal will add Brichter in Twitter’s mobile team and make Tweetie the official Twitter app on Apple devices.
Earlier, Twitter has concentrated on its Web site, twitter.com, and out-fielded the development of Twitter mobile clients up to start-ups like Tweetie, Twitterrific and UberTwitter. This is one of the first initiative in a new approach by Twitter to standardize its mobile presence.
When Twitter recognized that it needed its own search engine, it bought Summize, which made one. “Since we are still evolving, that may happen more,” Williams said. The Atebits acquisition is a prime example.
Twitter, which raised $100 million in September, has the cash to go on a shopping spree. It cannot engage engineers quickly enough to support the explosive growth of the company, so buying other features is a way to grow quickly.
In other surprising development earlier today, Twitter also declared Twitter for Blackberry and according to Wilson’s blog post earlier this week considered precisely in the same direction – Twitter moving to fill in the gaps it had left for others to fill.