Twitter Acquires Tweetie, Coined “Twitter for iPhone”

Twitter marched ahead by strategically acquiring Atebits in an undisclosed price resulting into the acquisition of Tweetie which is the iPhone’s most popular Twitter client. It is being said in the agreement that Atebits founder and lead developer Loren Britchter would be a part of the deal. The app will be renamed “Twitter for iPhone” and dropped from its $2.99 price tag to free. Twitter also confirmed plans to launch a version of the app for the iPad as well.

The move was quite obvious after Fred Wilson, a Twitter board member and an investor with Union Square Ventures, said in a blog post that instead of fixing holes in Twitter’s product, a separate business arm should be added that can build “killer apps”. The statement shook the whole third party developers. But in order to march ahead fast, Twitter acquired the available popular twitter client “Tweetie” instead of developing its own twitter app that would otherwise take time.

Twitter CEO Evan Williams cited simple reason for the said acquisition in a blog post:

“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. 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.”

Atebits founder and lead developer Loren Britchter was more than elated and said-

“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 – and I’m joining their mobile team and starting work on turning Tweetie.app into Twitter.app, for iPhone and iPad.”

“..he aims to help simplify the Twitter experience and let people use Twitter wherever they are.”

Soon, “Twitter for iPhone” will replace Tweetie in the app store and be made available free of charge. Twitter for iPad will also launch soon which means “Red Alert” for unofficial Twitter mobile clients like Echofon, TweetDeck, or Seesmic which may soon be out of the business.

Congratulations Loren! You must be having freaking blasting weekend!