Tweetie
| File:Tweetie 2 iPhone.png | |||||
| Developer(s) | Twitter Inc. (Previously atebits LLC) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Initial release | 19 November 2008 | ||||
| Stable release |
| ||||
| Operating system | iOS, macOS | ||||
| Type | Twitter client | ||||
| License | Commercial proprietary software | ||||
Tweetie was a client for the social networking service Twitter. There was a mobile version that ran on iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, and a desktop version ran on Mac OS X Leopard, Snow Leopard and Lion (respectively 10.5, 10.6 and 10.7).
Both the iOS and Mac versions of Tweetie were acquired by Twitter on April 9, 2010 and were re-released as the official Twitter clients for iOS and Mac.
History
Tweetie 2.0 for iPhone was the first app to introduce the pull-to-refresh[1] user interface mechanism. The Mac OS X version of Twitter had many of the same features as its mobile sibling. In addition to a free advertising supported version, the paid iOS and OS X versions cost $2.99 and $19.95 respectively. The beta of the Mac version was leaked to the popular torrent site Demonoid a week before the official release.
Acquisition by Twitter
On April 9, 2010, Twitter announced that the company had acquired Tweetie.[2] Twitter stated that the acquisition stemmed from the lack of an official, Twitter-branded mobile application. Tweetie was rebranded as "Twitter for iPhone" and released on May 17, 2010. The company's founder, Loren Brichter, became part of Twitter's mobile division and helped launch the "Twitter for iPad" application.[3][4]
On January 6, 2011, Twitter announced that the company had also acquired the desktop version of Tweetie, changing the name to "Twitter for Mac". "Twitter for Mac" was launched on the new Mac App Store the same day. On Tuesday, May 21, 2013 Twitter announced that certain patents related to Tweetie would never be used except to defend Twitter.
Ultimately "Twitter for Mac" was discontinued after a very slow maintenance schedule in March 2018,[5] being eventually replaced by the iOS version compiled using Catalyst in October 2019. The Catalyst app has been silently discontinued since the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk.[6]
References
- ^ "Twitter granted patent on pull-to-refresh, promises to only use it defensively". The Verge. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
- ^ "Twitter for iPhone". blog.twitter.com. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
- ^ "Twitter Blog: Twitter for iPhone". Blog.twitter.com. 2010-04-09. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
- ^ "Twitter for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store". Itunes.apple.com. 2010-05-18. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
- ^ Statt, Nick (16 February 2018). "Twitter discontinues its Mac desktop app after years of spotty support". The Verge. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
- ^ "Twitter launches its new Mac app built using Catalyst technologies in macOS Catalina". iTechBlog. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
External links
- Tweetie on iOS App Store
- Tweetie on Mac App Store
- Review at Daring Fireball by John Gruber
- Review at Tweetcrunch
- Review at Smoking Apples
- Developer's Site