Apple gives Twitter a big boost with iOS integration

Apple , which at one time was hot and heavy with Facebook, might have turned its back on the largest social network. Instead, it’s embracing Twitter and has integrated the San Francisco-based Twitter’s service into its iOS 5 mobile operating system. It has also built Twitter into some of its key applications such as Camera. For Twitter, which has been trailing Facebook in terms of sheer size, this is a big boost. It will help the service become more mainstream and continue to emerge as a counterweight to Facebook.

Apple was rumored to have been working closely with Facebook in the past and was close to integrating Facebook into its Ping music service. Apple and Facebook have since moved apart. Understandably so — Facebook is said to building its own mobile phone environment and will become competitive with Apple in the near future. Twitter is now emerging as an independent choice for mobile platform companies like Apple and Google. Apple’s endorsement is a big win for Twitter.

I wonder if the deal between Apple and Twitter was brokered by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the venture fund which started an iFund to boost the Apple iPhone/iPad app ecosystem. KPCB is also a minority investor in Twitter.

Here is what Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter wrote on the company blog:

Twitter has always been the best way to instantly share whatever is happening around you, and everything you’re interested in, anywhere you are. And today we’re working with Apple to make sharing on Twitter even easier: Twitter is built right into iOS 5, coming soon to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices worldwide.

This means that you’ll be able to sign in to your Twitter account once and then tweet with a single tap from Twitter-enabled apps, including Apple’s apps—Camera, Photos, Safari, Contacts, YouTube, and Maps. And developers of all of your favorite apps can easily take advantage of the single sign-on capability, letting you tweet directly from their apps too.

Building Twitter into iOS 5 truly creates the easiest way to share everything that’s happening in your world. Take a picture, tap “Tweet”. Tweeting has never been simpler.

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