iphone & ipad blog

Twitter Now Over 145 Million Users, Almost 300,000 Apps

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:37:52 +0000

When I read Twitter CEO Evan Williams post tonight about the state of Twitter from a mobile perspective, the first thing that jumped out at me what that Twitter for Android, an app Twitter worked hard on, isn’t even in the top 10 most-used apps for the service. But Williams also used the post to whip out some impressive numbers. Chief among them: Twitter now has over 145 million registered users (though presumably less than 150 million, or he would have said that). And there are now nearly 300,000 registered apps in the Twitter ecosystem. The latter number above is technically the number of registered OAuth apps in the ecosystem (and includes multiple instances of some apps). Twitter made the switch over from basic authentication to OAuth a few days ago, leaving behind some apps, such as the old Tweetie (which was reborn as Twitter for iPhone). Williams says this number of registered apps has tripled since their Chirp conference — which was only this past April. Other big numbers thrown out there by Williams: Mobile users have jumped 62% since mid-April 16% of all new users to Twitter now start on mobile (it was 5% before Twitter started doing branded mobile clients) 46% of active users use some sort of mobile Twitter experience 78% of people who interact with Twitter still do so through twitter.com — though that number includes people who use more than one app m.twitter.com is the second most-used Twitter interface at 14% SMS and Twitter for iPhone are tied at 8% Lastly, he throws in that Twitter’s Promoted Products (read: their first big monetization pitch) has “exceeded our expectations.” No word on if that means Twitter has turned a profit, but that seems pretty unlikely. Still, revenues are undoubtedly growing. CrunchBase Information Twitter Information provided by CrunchBase

Twitter Now Over 145 Million Users, Almost 300,000 Apps

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:37:52 +0000

Apple posts iPad iOS 4.2 "Coming Soon" page

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:35:00 +0000

By Josh Ong Published: 10:35 PM EST Apple has posted an iPad software update page on its website with details of the forthcoming iOS 4.2. The page , which went live Thursday, offers a preliminary look at some of the "100+ new features and innovations" for "the world's most advanced mobile operating system." The update is coming in November to iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. While the iPhone and iPod touch have already been upgraded to iOS 4, the iPad remains on a custom version, iOS 3.2. A few of the features of iOS 4, such as spell correction and support for Bluetooth keyboards, have been incorporated into the iPad-exclusive iOS 3.2, but iPad users will have to wait until November for the full update. iPhone and iPod touch users, on the other hand, can upgrade to iOS 4.1 on Sept. 8. Key additions to iOS 4.2 include folders, multitasking, support for wireless printing, and the new AirPlay wireless media streaming feature. Game Center, improved Mail, finding and highlighting text on web pages, enhanced enterprise support, accessibility enhancements, and keyboard and dictionary enhancements are other features touted on Apple's website. Apple CEO Steve Jobs demoed iOS 4.2 for iPad at Wednesday's media event.

Apple posts iPad iOS 4.2 "Coming Soon" page

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:35:00 +0000

Um, Where’s Twitter For Android On Twitter’s Top 10 Apps?

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:06:38 +0000

This evening Twitter CEO Evan Williams put up an interesting post about Twitter mobile usage. By just about every measurable metric, it seems to be skyrocketing. He also included a graph of the top 10 ways people are now using Twitter. This includes both Twitter’s own apps and third-party clients, but notably, Twitter for Android is nowhere to be seen. I’ve confirmed with Twitter that this isn’t a mistake. It seems that Twitter for Android is in fact not in the top 10 ways people interact with the service. That’s incredible considering that Twitter for iPhone is number 4 and Twitter for Blackberry is number 5. Both of those were built by the Twitter team, just as the Android app was. Even crazier, it’s behind third party clients TwitPic, TweetDeck, Echofon, UberTwitter, and even Google Friend Connect! Obviously, Twitter downplays that in the post (and by downplays, I mean, doesn’t mention it), and instead only mentions Twitter for Android in the intro to say that it “launched a new version this week.” Remember, “new” is the best tactic to get people to try something. So why is next to no one using Twitter for Android? Twitter won’t say. But I suspect it may have to do with the awful experience of trying to find apps in Google’s Android Market. Twitter for Android is by far and away the best client for the platform — but you’ll note that none of the other popular Android Twitter clients made the cut either. So perhaps Android users just don’t like using Twitter? That’s probably not the case. Remember too that a lot of the newer Android phones come with custom skins that often include Twitter functionality without the need for a separate app. Still, for browsing tweets, Twitter for Android is much, much better. People should be using it, but they’re apparently not. Update : One other thing undoubtedly at play here: Twitter for Android only works on Android 2.1 and later. Again, that’s largely an Android issue as fragmentation is preventing people from upgrading. More : Twitter Now Over 145 Million Users, Almost 300,000 Apps CrunchBase Information Twitter Android Information provided by CrunchBase