The Popularity of Tweetie

There are a number of reasons why Tweetie is so popular already; for one thing it has its own unique feel to it and is not just a miniature version of Twitter. One of the nicest things about the application is that it allows users to almost effortlessly manage multiple accounts. The newest version of the application also allows you to do a lot while offline.  It is constantly evolving yet despite this Tweetie remains easy to use. There are a few different Twitter applications out there to suit the iPhone, but many would agree that Tweetie is by far the best of the lot.

One of the inner circle at Twitter, Fred Wilson, gave everyone an idea of his intentions when he announced in his blog that his company were interested in developing their own application that would allow them to capture the market for mobile tweeting. The surge of popularity for the iPad is also sure to have been a factor in their decision making too. Rather than reinventing the wheel though, the decision makers decided to go with an application that was already available. So you now have all the advances provided by Tweetie but under the Twitter umbrella. The application is also due to change names; although many would view ‘Twitter for iPhone’ as being a far from innovative name.

The Future of ‘Twitter for iPhone’

It will be interesting to see what this takeover of Tweetie will lead to. Will it mean an even meatier application and enthusiastic support or will people choose the non-official versions? Many similar devices have had a downward change in fortunes after they were acquired by a bigger entity.  Twitter doesn’t seem prepared to take too many chances and they will be making the application free for at least a few weeks.

LOL, and thats all I have to say about that!

In the past Adobe has been quick to play down any rift that may exist between them and Apple. Things seem to be changing though as the dominance of the iPhone and new iPad becomes more obvious. This ban on flash based applications is going to have a huge effect as more and more people become part of the iPad phenomena. Not being able to get your products onto the device is going to mean a huge loss in potential earnings so it is no wonder that tempers are rising. In fact this could mean the death knell for many things flash-related.

Lee Brimelow has tried to make it clear that these are his own personal opinions and he does want to be seen as being representative of Adobe – still you have to think. One of the final quips in his blog post was the advice to Apple to, “go screw yourself”.

This war between HTML 5 and flash may also involve some personality clashes that go way beyond computer language.  It almost certainly is causing a lot of passionate debate from supporters on both sides of the argument. It is understandable that developers, who have put so much effort into creating using flash, should feel angry that their work will not be available on the most popular platform around; it really must feel like a kick in the teeth. With so much at stake we are almost certain to see the war of words heat up. Although the comments made by Lee Brimelow may not be fully supported by the Adobe team it has almost certainly drawn them further into the conflict.

It will be interesting to see what this increasing hostility between Adobe and Apple leads to. The success of the iPad though is almost certain to give Apple the ability to call the shots. If they don’t want to use flash then there does not seem to be much anyone can do to make them change their minds. What all this means ultimately for Adobe and Flash is probably not going to be good.