New mobile updates for Android, iPhone and mobile web
We just released a new version of Twitter for Android. Its new design reflects a native Android experience: wider and taller timelines that fill the screen, a flat navigation bar, tap and hold for quick actions, and more.
Context & Ripple Effects
Twitter has been iterating on Android since its 2010 Android update and, in 2012, paired broader iPhone and Android experiences with a new mobile-web standard. The April 2013 release extends that client-by-client product work with an Android interface tailored to the platform's interaction patterns; its relevance is amplified by Android's reported 70% smartphone share.
First-order effects
- Twitter for Android users receive a fuller-screen timeline, flat navigation and press-and-hold quick actions, changing the app's core browsing and interaction flow.
- Twitter must support the updated Android design alongside the iPhone and mobile-web releases named in the announcement.
Second-order effects
- A distinct Android-native interface makes cross-client feature parity a product-management task for Twitter: interaction patterns may differ even when the service is the same.
- The combined client releases put Twitter's mobile web in closer competition for attention with its native apps, rather than treating the browser experience as a separate fallback.
Third-order effects
- If Twitter continues aligning releases across native apps and the mobile web, its service is likely to be organized around a shared product experience with platform-specific interface conventions.
- Android's scale gives platform-native design decisions outsized importance for consumer internet services seeking broad mobile reach.
The trend: Consumer internet services are moving toward coordinated mobile releases that preserve a common service while adapting interaction design to Android, iPhone and the mobile web.