This just in, Twitter has aquired Tweetdeck!  This comes shortly after Twitter announced their campaign to streamline the “user experience” across all platforms.  According to Techcrunch, the transaction will be announced in the next few days.  The $40 million – $50 million purchase price includes both cash and Twitter stock.

This purchase comes in a defensive manner.  We all know Ubermedia, right?  Well, Ubermedia has been trying to buy Tweetdeck since February.  Through the use of Twitter’s open API, companies like Ubermedia can actually create software applications that access social media platforms.  Resulting in?  $$$$$.  Twitter doesn’t like that.  And if Ubermedia actually purchased Tweetdeck, Twitter could lose leverage with their own product.

I am not sure what this means for Tweetdeck as an application.  As it currently stands, you can access Foursquar, LinkedIN and Facebook.  I don’t think that support will continue.  But hey, who knows…