5 Benefits: Twitter Upgrades Its Mobile Strategy

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Is Facebook, LinkedIn, Tweetie or the recently released, Digg iPhone app part of the list of iPhone applications you use?

I find myself using these applications frequently, and it is also good to know that all of them are owned by their original social sites, except Tweetie, which was developed by a third party company that was recently acquired by Twitter.

This move, in my opinion, is simply brilliant!

In one of his blog posts, @ev explained that “people are looking for an app from Twitter, and they’re not finding one. So, they get confused and give up.” Not only were users overwhelmed by the number of choices available, there wasn’t an official one, and the better ones cost money.

I could relate to that really well because I faced the same problem. I eventually chose Tweetie because of the great experience I had with it as my desktop Twitter client. This acquisition news definitely came as a pleasant surprise to me. It’s a simple but crucial step in Twitter’s mobile strategy, especially when a huge proportion of people are tweeting through their phones.

Below are benefits that Twitter would enjoy from this acquisition:

5 Benefits

1. Better experience: With Twitter controlling its official iPhone app client, user experience could be better synchronized, tracked and improved.

2. No search hassle: Searching for a suitable Twitter mobile app can be a real hassle. With an official app, Twitter can brand the app and promote it on its web frontpage.

3. Talent acquisition: Loren Brichter’s Tweetie won him an Apple Design Award in 2009. ‘Nuff said.

4. Future upgrades: Whenever Twitter introduces a new feature; it takes time for other clients to incorporate it. This problem would be eliminated now that Tweetie is owned by Twitter.

5. Maximize ads revenue: Twitter is believed to be launching its own ad platform. Rather than sharing revenue with other Twitter clients, Twitter can earn the full share. But would it use Apple’s iAd to get ads as well?

So, what does this acquisition mean to others? To users, it’s definitely great news. But to other third party mobile clients, it would mean strong competition. This is especially so if Twitter introduces an official desktop Twitter client, which wouldn’t be surprising.