Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Stay on top of the latest market trends
Subscribe to Axios Markets for the latest market trends and economic insights. Sign up for free.
Sports news worthy of your time
Binge on the stats and stories that drive the sports world with Axios Sports. Sign up for free.
Tech news worthy of your time
Get our smart take on technology from the Valley and D.C. with Axios Login. Sign up for free.
Get the inside stories
Get an insider's guide to the new White House with Axios Sneak Peek. Sign up for free.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Want a daily digest of the top Denver news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Want a daily digest of the top Des Moines news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Want a daily digest of the top Twin Cities news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Want a daily digest of the top Tampa Bay news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Want a daily digest of the top Charlotte news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
Once again, Twitter shows that providing app developers with tools is not its favorite job. The company announced on Wednesday that it's selling off its Fabric suite of tools to Google.
Most of the tools in the Fabric suite are part of the deal, though it's unclear what will happen to Digits, which lets users of third-party apps log in using their phone numbers, after the transition. A Google spokesman declined to share more details.
Love-hate relationship: Twitter's relationship with app developers has been rocky. Between 2010 and 2012, it made a series of moves that severely limited what developers did, eventually earning it bad reputation among app developers.
Since then, Twitter has attempted to repair that relationship. It acquired Cashlytics in 2013, then debuted Fabric in 2014 and even organized conferences for developers.
- "We want to reset our relationship and we want to make sure that we are learning, that we are listening, and that we are rebooting," co-founder Jack Dorsey told developers in Oct. 2015 shortly after his return as CEO.
Why it matters: Twitter is keeping some of its other developer tools, but it's clear it's shedding whatever won't help it keep the revenue flowing and stabilize its business. Twitter spent several months last year surrounded by rumors it was trying to sell itself—including to Google—so straightening its business further could make it a better target. Twitter recently shut down its looping-video app Vine and reportedly tried to sell it off.