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We’ve been wondering how long it would take Twitter to get their act together and release an Android tablet app, and the company has finally done just that. Well… sort of, anyway. The app is exclusive to Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 – 2014 Edition users as of right now, with other Samsung tablets said to be getting the app shortly.
It’s everything you’d expect it to be — Twitter, except on the big screen. You get more info in more spaces. And in the case of the Note 10.1 – 2014 Edition, you can do it in multi-view — awesome!
What isn’t awesome, though, is the fact that Twitter is deliberately holding the app from all other Android tablets. Apparently this will only be the case until the end of 2013, but we still aren’t down with these exclusivity deals. It’s a pretty hard slap in the face to folks who have been waiting for the tablet version of Twitter for years upon years to be told that they have to own a Samsung tablet to use it.
We’ll likely get over it by the time 2014 arrives and the app is sitting in the Google Play Store for all to download, but we’re in the here and now, so we’ll spit fire about it in the here and now. But if you happen to be one of the lucky souls buying a Note 10.1 – 2014 Edition for $550 starting today, enjoy, and let us lowly non-Samsung tablet using folks how it is in the comments section below!
[via Twitter]
Twitter is using any way they can to bring in some revenue. I can’t blame them if Samsung is throwing money at them, I assume so. As a user though, it does suck…
Couldn’t agree more, Samsung is beginning to pee me off. They have an exclusive on the channel 5 demand tv app in the UK too. You don’t even know how long the exclusive lasts for, could be months, years, for ever.
It poo’s me off too
Does Samsung really think being the only maker to have a tablet version of twitter make someone buy their tablet over another? I can see why twitter did it, money from Samsung. I just wonder why Samsung spends the money.
Samsung wants to make a lot of marketing to themselves, because they want to prepare their Mo..erfu….ing TIZEN OS to take a lot of marketshare from Android. And don’t be surprised that the Samsung Galaxy S5 is coming with TIZEN OS instead of Android. Because Samsung can use the Galaxy Brand to hide TIZEN Smartphones.
People are still getting used to Android… I’m willing to bet if they released the S5 with Tizen a lot of people would be pissed off expecting Android.
More than likely the S# series will remain Android and they’ll start a new one for Tizen, even if the hardware is the exact same. I have heard that Tizen apps will run on Android, iOS, and Windows, so they must be based on HTML5. Here’s hoping they can make HTML5 apps feel native… because right now they don’t.
Also, Tizen sounds an awful lot like Ubuntu’s mobile OS. Imo it’s time to separate the OS from the hardware again (like PCs). Dual boot iOS/Android/etc. anyone?
No, that would be suicidal. Essentially locking your flagship phone out of Google services would be the dumbest thing anyone could possibly do.
The regular app does the the same stuff, so who cares! What are we? iOS users? They are the ones that care how their apps look.
But…but… Android is “open”. How can this be? Samsung is supposed to represent all this is holy in Android.
You’re comparing 2 totally different issues. Openness has nothing to do with wether or not a developer will release an app for all Android devices.
Doesn’t matter either way to me since I’m not much of a twitter user.
Samsung != Android
The Apk will be on the internet within hours, maybe even modified for compatibility on xda.
That’s what I was thinking as well.
It already is. I have it running on my Transformer. The APK was outed a couple of weeks ago.
Good!! exclusives like this should not happen, they hurt rather than help the companies involved!
I don’t see it that way. I think it is more of a compatibility thing. Same can be said for numerous Android apps that have been highly anticipated. Other highly anticipated apps were limited by device even without having exclusive agreements. So the way I see it is that if the app is going to be limited in availability because of compatibility testing and assurance anyway, then why not make some money (with an exclusivity agreement) being that the limited roll-out is inevitable.
You’re confusing compatibility and exclusivity. This Twitter app is no more or less compatible with this tablet than it would be with any other tablet running the same version of Android. Android 4.3 = Android 4.3, regardless of the device. Same with 4.2, 4.1, etc.. (Yes, they may be skinned different, but the underlying APIs are the same) Limiting availability for testing and assurance is one thing, but still somewhat of a dumb move to do with an exclusivity agreement. Imagine them advertising this tablet, touting Twitter in tablet mode… if the app isn’t up to snuff that makes both Samsung and Twitter look bad, especially Samsung for using it as a selling point.
Not to mention, if it was about testing, many companies have launched Beta versions that are invite-only before a mass release. This is just about the money.
Unless you are a small company or individual developer, I don’t see any excuse for releasing an app exclusive to a single device or even platform. The big name companies have plenty of resources to devote to building an app that runs on both Android (all devices) and iOS. It’s petty “This device/platform is better than yours” and needs to stop.
Unfortunately that’s a trend that is probably going to increase. Anyway, I’m longing for the days I can use tablet version apps on my phone. After all the phones already have 1080p screen.
The tablet version of this app has actually been exclusive to apple for a long time.
I read “Apple executives” O.o
Apparently I suffer from the same reading disorder.
Sounds like jealousy and money talks.
I cannot remember the last time i used the official Twitter app, and it’s unlikely i ever will. I prefer different Twitter clients, and when ads are forced on me I’ll cease using Twitter. I don’t do ads.
Great… now people can follow the inane ramblings of others on the big screen.
Lame sauce.
“I’m gonna buy a Samsung tablet to get that new Twitter app!”
Said nobody, ever.