It's Official: Twitter Acquires TweetDeck

In a blog post that hit the Web moments ago, Twitter has officially confirmed its acquisition of TweetDeck. The news comes following several months of expectation and trepidation, during which Twitter engaged in a "bidding war" against UberMedia (owner of Echofon) for TweetDeck. However, this war is now over - as confirmed by both Twitter and TweetDeck (on their respective blogs), the acquisition took place yesterday. As posted on Twitter's official blog:

In early 2008, a London-based programmer named Iain Dodsworth began thinking about how to organize everything happening on Twitter. His answer was TweetDeck, a groundbreaking dashboard for monitoring what people are saying in real-time. Today, we’re pleased to announce that the TweetDeck team has joined Twitter.

And, as confirmed by TweetDeck:

I am extremely happy and proud to let you know that TweetDeck has been acquired by Twitter. We completed the deal on Tuesday and are now in the process of "joining the flock".

Currently, we're wondering how this acquisition will affect TweetDeck's recently updated iOS application. It would appear from both blog posts that this app will continue to be available, with Twitter noting that the company"will continue to invest in the TweetDeck that users know and love." And TweetDeck also notes that it will continue to have "the same focus and products," insinuating that the TweetDeck app will continue to be available in the App Store. How do you feel about this acquisition? Are you annoyed Twitter has bought out another independent iOS developer? Let us know in the comments. [via Mashable]