Twitter supposedly buys TweetDeck for $40-$50 million

Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch just broke news that Twitter has bought TweetDeck for somewhere between $40 and $50 million. Back in February TweetDeck was in talks to be swallowed up by UberMedia for $20-$30 million, which would have made UberMedia the dominant Tweet market share holder by a landslide. Twitter had no other choice but to pony up big bucks for TweetDeck. The unsettling thing about this deal is that Twitter is doing this out of defense. Twitter has been very sluggish in terms of innovation after it’s last big product (Twitter). Other companies have stepped up to the plate to offer a broad and inclusive Twitter experience for users that completely brings Twitter’s web interface to shame. Even Twitter’s acquisition of Tweetie on the iPhone has yet to bring anything new to the table. With the acquisition of TweetDeck Twitter will most likely integrate the TweetDeck web experience but will that be enough? Buying your competition sure helps keep you in the game, but what good is it if you bring a gun to a knife fight if you can’t pull the trigger? Twitter’s acquisition of TweetDeck has given it the tools to retain control of its product’s market share. It has given it a forward-thinking innovative team but so did its acquisition of Tweetie. Let’s hope this purchase ends Twitter’s creative stagnation and allows for Twitter to make a decent attempt to think outside the box…and outside Twitter’s own ecosystem.

Source: TechCrunch