Twitter has decided to add a new dimension to its intellectual property portfolio with the addition of assets from application testing startup Clutch.io. Although the exact terms of the deal have not been released, officials did reveal that both staff members and proprietary technology will be making their way to Twitter prior to Clutch.io shutting down its services on November 1.

"Our mission over the last few months has been to help mobile developers iterate fast and grow their user base," Clutch.io representatives stated in a company blog post. "Now, as part of Twitter's growth and international team, we're excited for the opportunity to focus our efforts on Twitter's product at a large scale."

According to ITPro Portal, Twitter has been gradually restricting the privileges of third-party application developers over the past year, encouraging them to steer clear of programs that mirror the core features of the website. This stance has already been a point of contention for collaborators such as LinkedIn and Instagram.

But while most are viewing the acquisition as further proof of Twitter's insistence on keeping development in-house, Forbes columnist Anthony Kosner was more interested in Clutch.io's secondary product line. As he sees it, Twitter could be leveraging the newly acquired assets to set up a self-service application testing platform for advertisers to use for a fee.