Twitter upgrades mobile web app for touchscreen devices

Twitter introduced a new version of its mobile web application promising a higher quality, more consistent user experience across touchscreen devices regardless of whether an official Twitter client is available. Built expressly for smartphones and tablets with advanced browsers supporting web technologies like HTML5, the Twitter app enables users to more quickly scroll through their timeline, move between tabs and write tweets--the solution also leverages touch gestures and other touchscreen features. Twitter will initially roll out the app to a small percentage of iPhone, iPod touch and Android smartphone users, with a wider release planned in the weeks ahead.

Twitter usage continues to explode, with the total number of daily tweets increasing to 155 million in the first quarter of 2011, up from 55 million a year ago. Twitter reports that monthly account signups increased 52 percent worldwide between December 2010 and March 2011, with U.S. growth topping 57 percent. Mobile continues to play a dramatic role in the microblogging service's growth, with a 50 percent increase in monthly unique mobile signups during the first quarter--the Twitter for Android application experienced a 104 percent increase in monthly use during the quarter, with Twitter for iPhone growing 55 percent and Twitter for BlackBerry up 51 percent.

Twitter now boasts over 200 million users worldwide. Mobile tweets make up over 40 percent of all Twitter posts, the firm said earlier this year, adding that 50 percent of all active Twitter users are also active on mobile.

For more:
- read this Twitter blog entry

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