It’s no secret Twitter has a client-hostile approach. Recent terms restrict any one app to a ‘token limit’ of 100,000 users. Naturally, this limit doesn’t take into account pirated versions of paid apps or those that are abandoned by users who move on to something else. The Guardian’s written about the impact of this policy: Android app Falcon had to hike its price to stay on Google Play and Windows 8 Tweetro was pulled; elsewhere, well-regarded client Tweetbot arrived on the Mac with a $20 price-tag, solely because of Twitter’s arbitrary limits.

I’m still unsure why Twitter hasn’t banned third-party clients outright, although perhaps doing so would unleash the kind of negative PR the service wants to avoid. Better to have the clients gradually and slowly die, until the point where Twitter can proudly note that 99 per cent of people on the service are using official clients anyway, and so killing off those few clients clinging on is no big deal. The thing is, what, in the long run, will be an official Twitter client?

The latest update on the TweetDeck blog has announced that along with pulling Facebook support, the AIR, iOS and Android versions of TweetDeck have been canned. Instead, you’re encouraged to use the web app or Chrome app (which adds notifications). The post states:

We think these web and Chrome apps provide the best TweetDeck experience yet, and that they are the apps in which you’ll want to see us add new capabilities first, followed closely by our Mac and PC apps.

The inference is clear: the web is where Twitter wants you to be for TweetDeck, because it’s there where Twitter can control its client and roll out updates whenever it wishes, not restricted by the whims of users who might choose to not upgrade, or the vagaries of app stores.

But what of the standard Twitter client? Well, the TweetDeck announcement claims the web focus for TweetDeck is specific to usage for that product:

In many ways, doubling down on the TweetDeck web experience and discontinuing our app support is a reflection of where our TweetDeck power-users are going. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a steady trend towards people using TweetDeck on their computers and Twitter on their mobile devices.

The post also notes an “increased investment” in Twitter for mobile, most obviously with enhanced search and photo filters, but I wonder if this is a short-term solution. Twitter wants the ability to control its products and update them whenever it wants. Right now, third-party clients and the app-focussed mobile ecosystem are getting in the way. My guess is that this year will see Twitter finally pull the plug on all third-party clients, and next year will find the company pushing its web offering extremely hard. Whether users will come along for the ride is another matter.