Thursday, 7 May 2009

10 Things Apple Should Do With Twitter


There's no reason for Apple to buy Twitter, as rumor had it earlier this week. Apple's business is to sell more computers, iPods, and iPhones, and owning Twitter won't help with that at all.

But using Twitter more in Apple products could help, especially as the messaging/microblogging service picks up more steam.

Here's ten ideas for how Apple could work Twitter into its products:

  • Twitter support in iChat, Apple's messaging app.
  • Using Twitter for RSS-like feeds, such as featured iTunes songs, movies, TV shows, movie trailers, iPhone apps, etc.
  • Tweet new photos (and someday, videos) from iPhone, auto-uploaded to MobileMe, TwitPic, YouTube, etc.
  • Tweet new photos from iPhoto on Mac, auto-tagging your Twitter contacts.
  • Twitter contacts in phonebook on Mac and iPhone.
  • Baking Twitter sign-in into iPhone and iPod touch so all apps can access it via one API for things like tweeting game milestones, high scores, etc.
  • Read tweets on Apple TV while you're watching a video. (Sort of like Yahoo's new Twitter widget on some TVs.)
  • Twitter search built into Safari as an option.
  • Tweet the song you're listening to in iTunes or on your iPhone, with link to iTunes download.
  • Suggested iTunes playlists/purchases based on most-tweeted songs.
Do you have any other proposals?
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1 comment:

  1. Edythemighty7 May 2009 at 23:02

    1. Twitter support in iChat - Twitter used to have an IM address from which you could post. This, presumably, will be brought back later.
    2. Using Twitter for RSS - Because RSS isn't...what?
    3. Tweet new photos from iPhone - Upload to MobileMe would be cool, but Twitter apps are like the Hello World of iPhone apps
    4. Tweet new photos from iPhoto - No reason this can't be done by a third party
    5. Twitter contacts in Addressbook - A twitter app could access your addressbook
    6. Baking Twitter sign-in into iPhone - Why would Apple build their service around only one provider, with a lot of recorded downtime, when there are free alternatives?http://laconi.ca/trac/
    7. Read tweets on AppleTV - Just run boxee. You'll be much happier :)
    8. Twitter search built into Safari - search.twitter.com can be loaded into Firefox's search bar. Safari doesn't support this?!
    9. Tweet songs you're listening to on iTunes or iPhone - There are third party apps for iTunes that do this, but for the iPhone it would require "baked-on" Twitter support, or background processes, which it does not allow just yet
    10. Suggested songs based on most-tweeted songs - Because we all want Britney Spears' collector's edition greatest hits?

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