• The New York Times, Monday, July 18, 2011 12:02 PM

Ties between Twitter and third-party developers are as strained as ever as the Federal Trade Commission investigates Twitter's relationship with the developers.

"Although neither Twitter nor the agency would comment, two people briefed on the inquiry said that it questioned whether Twitter had been anti-competitive when it bought or regulated some apps," The New York Times reports. "At the same time, the apps built by third-party developers have become a thriving corner of the tech industry."

Indeed, in the past six months, investors poured $500 million into developers of Twitter apps, while companies, including Wal-Mart and Salesforce.com, collectively paid $1 billion to buy such start-ups. According to Twitter, 750,000 developers have built 1 million apps, up from 135,000 developers and 150,000 apps a year ago. "The boom in apps, though, has fueled longstanding tensions between Twitter and the developers over whether they are partners or competitors," NYT adds.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »