Twitter Wants to Acquire Vancouver-born Mobile App Camera+, Sources Say
Twitter is considering acquiring Camera+, a mobile iPhone app that was co-founded by Vancouverite Lisa Bettany (Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore’s girlfriend) and owned by development firm Tap Tap Tap, according to “two people with knowledge of the negotiations,” Bloomberg reports.
Twitter was also interested in Instragram, a similar but more popular and social app, before Facebook acquired it for $1 billion. While Instagram was likely too rich for Twitter’s bold (although Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was an investor in the app), competitor Camera+ would be much more affordable.
Twitter executives have held “several” meetings with Tap Tap Tap, the sources say, but talks broke down after the team—which is spread across Canada, the US, Austria, New Zealand, and Spain—was reluctant to wholly relocate to San Fransisco, where Twitter is headquartered.
Camera+, which costs 99 cents, has been downloaded 7.5 million times in two years. Instagram, which actually debuted four months after Camera+, has 50 million users—although it does also have an Android version and is free to download.
It is unclear whether Twitter will continue to pursue an acquisition of Camera+.