MediaTek partners with Twitter on feature phone integration

MediaTek made headlines not too long ago when it promised to bring dual-core processors to phones costing $199 and under. Now the company has announced a partnership with Twitter that will see the social network integrated with devices featuring MediaTek chips so that users in emerging markets can get in on the tweeting action. MediaTek will bundle Twitter into its reference design for phones as a result of the partnership.

MediaTek will include Twitter in its MRE middleware, enabling "smart-feature phones" that will run Twitter with minimal hardware requirements. Manufacturers can keep offering cheap handsets, and Twitter will reaching a massive user base of customers used to purchasing affordable phones. The app that will be included is said to be a native experience comparable to Twitter for iPhone or Android.

The first chipset that will feature Twitter integration is the MediaTek MT6255, although MediaTek says that Twitter will expand to all of its solutions later on. That would open up the massive Chinese and Asian market to Twitter, as well as other developing markets that current buy devices using MediaTek's silicon.