back to article Apple buying Twitter!

The latest suitor for everyone's favourite mobile application is apparently Apple. Quite why Apple wants to buy Twitter is not entirely clear, but that hasn't stopped the story spreading, partly because it's too good a story to kill and partly because it will create page impressions whether it is true or not. Apple is in …

COMMENTS

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Just as..

    ..twitter drops out of favour for the next great fad.

  2. Richard

    I wonder ...

    So many people are interested in twitter, but has anyone figured out a way to make money on twitter itself? I know some people make money/marketing using it; I can think of four or five local companies as examples of using it to boost sales/marketing/promotions. However, how does twitter itself make money? When this many businesses are this interested in something that's a money sink, it's usually sports-related.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Here Is £1

    It's all it is worth

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Question

    Is Twitter making a profit yet - if not, how does it plan to do so (e.g. Adwords ?). Does anyone at El Reg know ?

  5. Jeff

    Pun intended

    Um.. are they going to rename it "Apple Fritter" ?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Easy money

    Make a social networking site that attracts millions of users.

    Find venture capital firms to keep you afloat

    Sell company to conglomerate for profit.

    Note that nowhere in those instructions can be found the words 'Work out how to monetise service'.

  7. mike lee

    re: Question

    > if not, how does it plan to do so

    By being bought.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    All Hail

    The acquisition of one set of self-centered twits by another :)

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Twitter is worthless..

    As soon as people realise this, the sooner we can get on with our 141+ character lives.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @jeff

    that isn't a pun.

  11. Jared Earle
    Jobs Halo

    Not going to happen

    I simply see no win for either party.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Go

    Twatter and Apple?

    Sounds like a perfect match to me.

    I bet > 95% of Twatter postings are made from an iPhone / Mac Book anyway, they might as well merge it into the OS.

    It's the perfect vehicle for self-obsessed fanboiz to indulge their verbal bulimia.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Errrrr.....

    Another reason why *NOT* to use Twitter.

    Soon the site will only work on the buggy Safari browser. Flash ads and videos will be pulled and will be replaced by QuickTime crap.

    @Jeff: How about "Apple sh?tter". :-)

  14. Stevie

    Bah!

    This is the only way they can shut down the world-wide blather about their iPhone apps payment system going nails-up.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Smells more like someone trying to drum up interest in Twitter

    prior to sticking out the begging bowl for another round of venture capital than anything that might actually happen.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Dumb

    Well, I eventually gave in and joined Twitter to see what the fuss was about.

    F*** all apparently. It's pointless, and I can't think of a single way to make money out of it that isn't already done better by twitbook or facedump or the others.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    It's a perfect knit.

    On one side you have a company that has inferior technology which does not scale well but is loved by the coloured crayon wielding c0cks that evangelise it even though it serves no useful purpose and seems to be entirely used by self obsessed self promoting new media gurus who like the sound of their own voice.

    And the other company is Twitter.

  18. W

    Is Twitter

    anything more than a version of RSS feeds of Facebook status updates for folk who don't know/care what an RSS feed is?

  19. Richard

    @Um.. are they going to rename it "Apple Fritter" ?

    Nope .. www.applefritter.com is already taken.

    This has got to be a non-story ... unless Apple have an incredible plan, this would just be a nonsense buy. Apple know how to make money ... Web 2.0 does not make real money.

    Apple could easily provide Twitter like functionality from its mobileme platform .. hell anyone can do it with an Apache webserver and some PHP code.

    Oh course, someone should buy it (for 50p) and then shut it down.

  20. Ken
    Go

    m vs. M

    Well, seeing as a lowercase m denotes milli, I believe this is quite a fair price... I'd buy twitter for 700 millidollars ($0.70!) too! It's worth nearly that much.

    Why the hell would anyone pay $700M for a site that doesn't make any money and probably never will, though? This defies logic, I thought the dotcom bust was over long ago... or is this dotcom2.0?

  21. blue
    Flame

    Twitter Is...

    a cross between RSS status updates and BCC'ed instant messaging.

    The only thing stupider than someone who uses Twitter is someone who bashes Twitter without having a clue about what it's useful for.

    I've only followed one person who used it in an annoying way (updates about having a nice drink or going to bed and the like). Despite them updating on more interesting things (events, links etc.) that nonesense got on my tits and I stopped following them.

    There are plenty of other people who use Twitter in a more valuable way - if you're interested in them. @stephenfry is an obvious one, but others such as @amandapalmer (assuming you give a hoot about her and her shennanegans) use it in a fun and entertaining manner.

    If you don't 'get' twitter, get a decent desktop client (twhirl is ok on the PC) follow a few people and leave the app running for a week. If you still don't get it, try following some more interesting people instead. Maybe @guardiantech

  22. Chris Peterson
    Thumb Up

    Bitter?

    Evan Williams creates Blogspot. He sells it to Google.

    Evan Williams creates Twitter, which is Blogspot with a 140-character posts. He sells it.

    Next, Evan Williams will create Bitter, which will be Twitter with a 1-bit posts.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    pots within kettles ...

    "Quite why Apple wants to buy Twitter is not entirely clear, but that hasn't stopped the story spreading, partly because it's too good a story to kill and partly because it will create page impressions whether it is true or not."

    Speaking from experience there, clearly.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ W

    From what I can tell, more or less. I honestly don't see why everyone and their mother is being rumored to be buying Twitter these days. Unless of course it's the folks at Twitter pushing these stories out in hopes of attracting an actual buyer for what has got to be a giant money pit.

  25. Thomas Vestergaard

    Re: Is Twitter

    sure - it is also a way to subscribe to these RSS feeds and easily reference them! Because that isn't already part of the technology... ;-)

    I personally prefer Twitters adorable step-sister - Plurk. But hey, I am also the sorry kind of introvert who are more interested in connecting with friends and peers than broadcasting myself to world + dog...

  26. Ozwadi Ogolugi
    Thumb Up

    @It's a perfect knit.

    You obviously need to get out more and make some friends..

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    @ Bitter

    Chris, that';s f*cking hilarious!

    It doesn't need to make any money, it's the perfect segmentation tool for Apple to be able to reach a bunch of self obsessed narcissists - it's target market.

  28. John McElhenney 2.0
    Flame

    Twindle (tm) Will De-Evolutionize The Web

    Apple should buy Skype! Twitter will be Pawned by Google soon enough. But the Twindle, that's an idea who's time has not and never will come. http://twindle.me

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