Twitter, the blogging service for those who don't have too much to say, has halted its mobile phone service in the UK, citing costs as the problem.
In a statement, co-founder – or, as we like to say, chief Twitterer – Biz Stone, revealed that UK mobile users will no longer be supported unless the company can strike a cheaper deal with mobile phone operators.
"Twitter is no longer delivering outbound SMS over our UK number," said Stone.
"It pains us to take this measure. However, we need to avoid placing undue burden on our company and our service.
"Even with a limit of 250 messages received per week, it could cost Twitter about $1,000 per user, per year to send SMS outside of Canada, India, or the US.
"It makes more sense for us to establish fair billing arrangements with mobile operators than it does to pass these high fees on to our users."
Canada, India and US not affected
The statement, which was posted on Twitter's blogs, goes on to say that these changes do not affect users in Canada, India, or the United States.
If you are devastated that Twitter no longer works on your UK mobile, then Stone does list the following other ways to get you back on the Twitter radar:
- m.twitter.com works on browser-enabled phones
- m.slandr.net works on browser-enabled phones
- TwitterMail works on email-enabled phones
- Cellity works on java-enabled phones
- TwitterBerry works on BlackBerry brand phones
