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I bet $20 that an official Android Twitter client is coming [OPINION]
April 8, 2010 | by Andrew Kameka
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Remember when I said that developers should use NAV4ALL’s demise as a lesson to be careful when your business is dependent on another service? Well, Twitter investor Fred Wilson said the same in a blog post pointing out that Twitter could make just a couple of moves and introduce official services that would all but kill third-party developers.
Wilson’s comments can be viewed as a warning shot to third-parties that Twitter products built solely for “filling holes” in the system could be replaced if Twitter acquired or built a competing service. If the microblogging site integrates native photo uploading, say goodbye to TwitPic and Tweetphoto, Wilson suggests.
And if Twitter made an official Android client, you could bet I’d have to revisit that Android Twitter App Comparison chart. That’s why I think Twitter will probably release an official mobile client for Android before the end of the year. Wilson backtracked and said his thoughts are his own, but you can’t have a Twitter board member make a comment like this and not expect people to infer that Twitter is likely already exploring such options. Wilson’s comments make me think that’s a growing possibility.
Aside from the fact that several Twitter employees retweeted Wilson’s comments and called them “timely,” we’ve previously seen Twitter employees suggest that upcoming features on Twitter would make it less likely that anyone would want to use desktop alternatives like Seesmic or TweetDeck. Don’t be surprised if there are Twitter employees working to make the same happen in mobile.
P.S. That’s $20 in Monopoly money, 2-1 odds.
Well,
Unless they kill the authorization through OAuth, why would I want to change my long used twitter client, with an official one. And I can bet more than $20 (in monopoly money), their client will be crappier than most of the third party applications.
I hope they do! itd be a good thing. maybe include a lot of nice features. then again, they will have to do a lot in order for it to beat twidroid, twicca, touituer etc.
My recent post The Day They Named the Cat
They would have to make a better app than the rest for many of the users to switch I think.
You’re right in saying it should be better than those already existing for anyone to switch…but what you forget is that Twitter owns the back end. All it takes is a simple authentication switch and their done. If you can’t open the front door, there’s no party for you…no matter how good (or bad) their native client is.