Could there be a Twitter Home in the making?

With Facebook Home already out for users around the world, the question on everyone’s mind is what does Twitter have planned for Android to compete with one of its biggest rivals?

Interestingly, Twitter’s Vice President of Product, Michael Sippey did not rule out the possibility of a Home-like Android experience for the micro-blogging platform. The idea of a Twitter-centric launcher for Android might sound mouthwatering to many, but Sippey didn’t explicitly state what Twitter’s plans were. 

Sippey said that Twitter has been mulling over the possibility of having a Facebook Home-like product and generally improving user experience on Android. Calling the Facebook Home “a very interesting product”, Sippey said “There are a lot of things we’re looking at on Android and across all of our applications to make it easier to see tweets. I’d like to see tweets there [on the lock screen], so we’ll see how that goes.”

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It’s too soon to say that Twitter will be launching a dedicated launcher app for Android, and Sippey didn’t reveal what the company was developing behind closed doors. He did say though that the company was looking to improve the Twitter experience on Android overall.

Will Android play home to Twitter Home? (image Credit: Design Tickle)

Meanwhile, before thinking about a possible ‘Twitter Home’, the company must take a look at its existing mobile products.

Days after Twitter rolled out a major update for its Android app, users took to the micro-blogging site itself to complain about bugs. The most common grouse with the users remained the fact that the “Me” tab, or the profile page refused to load for some users. The page is needed to access your own tweets, Direct Messages and even the option to switch between multiple accounts.

Twitter had to roll out an emergency update to address the issue within a few days of the hyped release. Unfortunately, the update did not address bugs like floating tweets that users still seem to experience with the new Twitter for Android app. Before wanting to experiment further with a Facebook Home rival, Twitter could take the chance to sit down and figure out how to lure back users to their Android app from third-party clients.

One thing that Twitter seems to be getting right, though, is Twitter Music. The music discovery service is about to be rolled out soon and will come with a web interface and an app. Streaming and integration with services like Spotify, Rdio, iTunes, Soundcloud, Vevo and YouTube is expected. The service will apparently help users discover new music based on content from their Twitter profiles.