Tweetro reappears in Windows Store with $10 pricetag
updated 05:58 am EST, Tue December 4, 2012
Twitter API limit forces developer to charge highly
Lazyworm Apps has relaunched its widely lauded Windows 8 Twitter application as a paid app. Tweetro+, for both Windows 8 and Windows RT, has been released after being pulled from the Windows Store, following the same Twitter-enforced user token issue that other app developers have had problems dealing with.
The issue lies entirely down to Twitter's own API policies for third-party apps. A 100,000-user limit forces developers to limit the number of downloads it can offer, and though the barrier can be raised in negotiations with Twitter itself, developers are finding it difficult to get a positive answer back from the microblogging service, if any reply at all. The seemingly hostile nature directed towards third-party developers by Twitter has forced the Tweetro developers to attack the company in its FAQ section, claiming “We can't guarantee that we'll support it forever (especially considering Twitter's position towards developers like us).”
Users wanting to use Tweetro+ with up to two accounts will have to pay $10 for the privilege, with the price set to go up to $13 in the future, with an in-app purchase costing $3 will push the number of usable accounts to five. Though the price seems high, the same revocation and re-release story happened to Tapbots, which put its Tweetbot app in the Mac App Store at $20 after temporarily pulling it from sale.
Twitter has said it is currently developing its own Windows 8 app, but a release date has yet to be hinted at.
