I'm curious to know what hypothesis is behind funding third party app directories. I'm pretty sure oneforty isn't the only one to get funding. Is there a business to be built here that would be worth $20M? I know a lot of people assume these are acquisition plays, but I'm pretty sure there has to be an alternative theory. Is this a trojan horse? Get your start in one thing and use it to expand into something more lucrative?

I was thinking the same thing (and doing the same math) when reading about an iPhone app directory recently getting $2M in funding.

Is it that I just have no idea how much this kind of things can be worth in the end? Or, as you say, is there more to it and if so, what?

oneforty can make money with sponsored application sections and a cut on selling applications. So it can be a profitable business on its own.

but first they need eyeballs.

Speaking of, if you've got an app, client, tool, website, or something that uses the Twitter APIs in a meaningful way that you want to sell through oneforty, e-mail me: [email protected]

You might want request that the author links to your site. I couldn't easily jump from the article to check out oneforty.