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Twitter Unveils Official iPhone App, Switched Goes Hands On

by Terrence O'Brien on May 19, 2010 at 05:20 PM

Searching the iPhone app store for "Twitter" turns up plenty of apps, but not one named "Twitter." In fact there was no such thing as an official Twitter app for the iPhone, until today. For newcomers to the microblogging service, this caused a bit of confusion, so Twitter decided it was time to get some officially sanctioned apps out -- including one for the iPhone. Smartly, instead of starting from scratch, it snatched up the highly polished and very popular Tweetie.

A month after announcing the purchase, the newly re-branded app, simply called Twitter, is now available for free in the app store -- making it easier for the less patient or savvy users to get tweeting.

Twitter app for iPhone


Those who are familiar with Tweetie will notice only a few changes. The official Twitter app supports retweeting directly from the time-line view, multiple accounts, photo attachments and URL shortening, as expected. For the more advanced, it also can attach hashtags and geotags. The feature list is quite impressive, and surprisingly, the app doesn't even require a Twitter account. You won't be able to post messages, but even non-users can view trending topics and perform searches. Users can create accounts from within the official app, something other developers have been barred from doing (which is sure to rankle some feathers). Lastly, and certainly not least, lists and saved searches are supported for the Twitter power users out there.

Will the official app be enough to snatch users away from other popular apps like EchoFon and Tweetdeck? Maybe, but it should have no issue drawing plenty of new Twitter users just by being the official app. Check out the gallery above and video below for some hands on impressions. [From: Twitter Blog]

Tags: apple, features, handson, iphone, top, twitter, twitter for iphone, TwitterForIphone, web

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