Twitter to be available on mobile phones without Internet

We’re spoiled here in the US. When we want to browse what’s trending on Twitter, we just break out our smartphones, launch an app and we’re perusing the latest tweets about Joan Didion and the war on Christmas in no time. Those in developing nations don’t have that luxury. Twitter knows it needs to crack those markets to stay relevant and competitive, so it’s reaching back to its text-based roots in a partnership with Singapore-based U2opia Mobile.

Twitter Inc is tying up with a Singapore-based startup to make its 140-character messaging service available to users in emerging markets who have entry-level mobile phones which cannot access the Internet. U2opia Mobile, which has a similar tie-up with Facebook Inc, will launch its Twitter service in the first quarter of next year, Chief Executive and Co-founder Sumesh Menon told Reuters.