Twitter and iOS 5 Flock Together
Apple has finally realized that its users may not be content inside the Apple bubble. At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference held today (June 6) in San Francisco, the company announced system-wide Twitter integration for iOS5, the new operating system for iPhone and iPad devices. With iOS 5, Apple brings in an outsider to its exclusive operating system to allow effortless sharing of photos, videos, and of course, tweets.
The baked-in integration means fewer logins, no middle-man apps such as TwitPic and yFrog and a constant reminder to share, share, share. And Twitter is top and center: Twitter mentions are displayed on a second bar below the status bar, much like how Apple displays tethering or background voice calling.
It's no coincidence that Twitter last week debuted its photo and video sharing integration that powers new search by "Top images" and "Top videos", which many analysts correctly said was a warm-up to Apple's impending news.
Let's hope Twitter is ready.
"More content will be generated by users with camera phones than all the cameras and camcorders combined," J. Gerry Purdy, principal analyst for Market Trax, told TechNewsDaily. Couple that with findings from the Pew Internet & American Life Project that revealed more than half (54 percent) of adult Twitter users tweet from their mobile phones.
Today, 1 billion tweets are sent each week, Apple's Scott Forstall said at the event. That number can only grow with iOS 5-Twitter integration, including one tap sharing from Apple's new camera app with editing features and from the photo library.
"Up until now, the inconvenience factor in social networking has been substantial," Purdy said. He pointed out that most communication takes place in separate silos ― users are forced to hop from one app to another to text, read email and tweet.
"iOS 5 offers one command and control place," he said. "I think we'll see friendly communication actually increase between people who are important to one another to the point where technology improves relationships."
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