Rumours ran rampant on Twitter yesterday of a supposed acquisition of Twitter by Apple. It was a strange and unexpected: Apple primarily a hardware manufacturer buying a website.
It got me thinking what would the implications be if Apple does indeed pay Twitter the $750mil. Would Apple change something that hinders the use, or only improve it? If any changes are made, I’d expect some PC-lovers to loathe it.
1) Design Changes
Can we expect a sleek makeover? Perhaps not. Twitter thrives on it’s logo and baby blue theme, but Apple has time and time again changed their iPods to look uglier than the previous generation.
The first generation had the best design by far. The 4th generation is a little better, but nothing beats the original. So will Apple change some designs? Please don’t!
2) Usage
Well like this guy said here, Apple would probably integrate some “money laundering” techniques to get you to spew some cash for iTunes. I for one would really despise it. I hate people dragging stuff in my face and egging me to buy their goodies. It’s like the car guards and their “tactful” linger to get some petty cash. As for Apple they’re not car guards; they’ve got the cash and this would only seem like a nuisance. Just like Magpie tweets. Any small changes would send echoes across the community.
3) Product Integration
This might seem like the most viable reason thus far. Twitter apps are extremely popular on the iPhone. Do they want to capitalize on the rise of this interest? Buy out Twitter and the various apps to set a dominance on the market? It seems like a much ado about nothing. However, one could expect some changes in the iPhone/Twitter market.
4) Branding
Twitter is an extremely hot topic. Almost every respected techonology site or any publication for that matter has printed something about Twitter. Apple won’t change the Twitter brand, but would definitely try to affiliate itself with it. Perhaps next year Twitter would be synonymous with Apple. Some people might be distraught at the thought of it, but to me it does seem so weird. Perhaps because both aim for simplicity?
5) The iTwit
Perhaps the reason Apple is buying Twitter is to get more control over the service so they integrate it into other products (see number 3), however a perhaps they are creating a whole new product. I’d expect some beeper type thing that sits on your belt and chirps everytime a Tweet or something alerts you. Yeah, yeah this might be farfetched, as the iPhone and the whole mobile market tries to aim to put everything into one seamless device. However, this would be funny nonetheless.
Simon’s 2nd opinion:
Yes, it’s an interesting proposition. I just think it’s a bad rumour. To be honest, I really hope it’s a bad rumour! They will find a way to bind Twitter to one of their products or something. It doesn’t really matter though. IF that happens, most disgruntled Twitter users would just hop onto another microblogging site.
Also, Niel, I don’t agree with the fact that the designs have worsened.
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