Twitter has acquired Atebits, very small company that makes Tweetie, really excellent Twitter client for iPhone. Tweetie is renamed Twitter for iPhone, cost is going from $2.99 to $0, and it looks like creator Loren Brichter functioning on iPad version and ones for other mobile devices.

The move is divisive, as it along with release of official Twitter client for BlackBerry puts Twitter in direct rivalry with third-party developers who have built much of Twitter ecosystem. Will twitter help to encourage Tweetie rivals like Twitterific? Will twitter for iPhone grab monopolistic market share among iPhone Twitter apps? Will developer bother to attempt and make money from Twitter apps when Twitter is giving them away?

For me, there's one dominant factor Twitter for iPhone is not just part of software but parts of smartphone software for reason. And I think that Loren Brichter is talented developers of user interfaces who are worked on any platform. I anticipated that bigger company obtain Atebits to get Brichter on board, and kind of feel that if company able of convincing Brichter to unite it, it irresponsible not to do so.

I have thought that Tweetie Twitter for iPhone was convincing facts that one gifted programmer can make best software than army of people. Let's expect that Brichter's making stays well, and that Twitter allows him loose to do equally amazing work on other platforms.