Twitter acquires Atebits making Tweetie their official iPhone client

I’m not thrilled about this, not thrilled at all. One of the nice aspects of Twitter is that until now, they haven’t gotten involved in client development choosing instead to let developers have the freedom to innovate. This approach has lead to the evolution of many wonderful Twitter clients on just about every platform imaginable. Although Twitter’s acquisition of Atebits certainly won’t prohibit other developers from developing their own clients, it seems to me that competing against an “official” client would be one heck of a challenge.
I’m also surprised that Twitter seems to feel that people are “looking for a Twitter app and are not finding one.” After all, a search for ‘twitter’ in the app store results in an unbelievable amount of matches, most accompanied by user reviews, ratings, etc… Although having so many options may be somewhat overwhelming for new users, I doubt many people will simply stop using Twitter because no “official” client exists. No, the more I think about this, the less I like it.