The official Twitter app for Windows Phone 7 went live on Thursday, the same day that the new mobile operating system from Microsoft launched in Europe and Asia.
As with the official Twitter apps available on iPhone, Android, and other mobile devices, Twitter for Windows Phone 7 is free.
My initial impressions of the new Twitter app are positive as this is (dare I say?) the prettiest mobile Twitter client I’ve yet to see. Most functions, including the app’s first loading, don’t take much longer than a few moments in most cases.
The main screen (pictured) prominently features the user’s timeline, as expected, complete with user name, tweet, avatar, and timestamp. Buttons highlighted at the bottom of the screen let a user refresh the stream, compose a tweet, send a message, or perform a search.
Swiping sideways swaps the screen to pages designated Trends, Suggested, and Nearby.
All the above mentioned screens can also be used in landscape mode.
Other apps already available on Windows Phone 7 from day one include Facebook, Seesmic, and Shazam.
Windows Phone 7, which launches in the US on November 8, is the successor to Windows Mobile, Microsoft’s mobile platform first released in 2000. The need for a complete rethinking of the platform had been realized by many in the industry (including Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer), but the most obvious sign of the platform’s demise under iPhone and Android came almost exactly a year ago, when data revealed sales of the platform to have declined 20% in Q3 2009.
Based on the fact that big players like Twitter and Facebook have been so quick to release official apps for Windows Phone 7 (coupled with all those positive reviews), this could be the revival of Microsoft on the smartphone.
See the video embedded below for a promotional preview of the app.
(image source: http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/21/official-twitter-app-for-windows-phone-7-goes-live/)