Twitter Buys iPhone App Tweetie

In another move toward world domination, Twitter has acquired Tweetie, a Twitter client for iPhone and Mac platforms. The purchase is part of Twitter's plan to work on "filling the holes" and eliminate the need for third-party services—and that's causing some tension between the the company and the developers who have built the 70,000 applications that support the microblogging site.

The programmers made the apps at no charge to Twitter because Twitter allowed them to make money from advertisers or charge users for their apps, notes the New York Times. But acquiring "all the necessary components" would give Twitter "total control of the medium, which means they'll be able to monetize much more effectively," writes Dan Nosowitz for Fast Company. "That strategy will also, of course, leave all the developers who made Twitter what it is today stranded." Twitter will give Tweetie away for free; it used to cost $2.99 in Apple's App Store.