HeyWire, a service developed by MediaFriends that offers a free SMS service, is partnering with Twitter to offer a worldwide service, called HeyTweet, that allows users to send free tweets via mobile SMS.

HeyTweets, which is part of the free application HeyWire, allows users to access Twitter via SMS from anywhere in the world. Users can text from their own real dedicated phone number, essentially doing the same for Tweets using the shortcode 40404. HeyTweets will support tweeting in all major languages and offers iPhone and iPad apps,with with support for Android Smartphones and Tablets coming soon.

HeyWire itself offers free local and international text messaging from a phone number and is steadily gaining traction.

The reason why HeyTweets is compelling is that normally user sending Tweets via SMS would incur charges from their carriers. Twitter has negotiated lower carrier fees internationally, but users still incur a charge (Twitter actually bought startup Cloudhopper to hep mitigate this issues).

While HeyTweet certainly democratizes Tweeting via SMS for users worldwide, it is still only available through apps for iOS devices, leaving out Android and feature phone users. Particularly when addressing a global community, the ability to use feature phones would boost HeyTweet’s service.

Crunchbase

• TWITTER

Company: Twitter

Website: twitter.com

Launch Date: March 21, 2006

Funding: $1.16B

Twitter, founded by Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams in March 2006 (launched publicly in July 2006), is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to post updates 140 characters long. Twitter “is a real-time information network that connects [users] to the latest stories, ideas, opinions, and news.” The service can be accessed through a variety of methods, including Twitter’s website; text messaging; instant messaging; and third-party desktop, mobile, and web applications. Twitter is currently available in...

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