Twitter app for Zune HD imminent

Just when we were beginning to lose faith that Microsoft would make good on its plans to release Twitter and Facebook apps for the Zune HD, a tweet from Microsoft's Zune account offers a ray of hope. If the Twitter post turns out to be true, Zune users may see the fabled Twitter app as an available download as early as tomorrow morning (December 16).

Like all apps for the Zune HD thus far (including the recent batch of 3D games), we expect that the Twitter app will be free to download and include a momentary ad banner each time the app is launched. Currently, Zune HD users are able to use the device's integrated Web browser to access and update Twitter but have no way to cache the communications offline.

Unfortunately, Facebook updates will still need to be done the old fashioned way (through the browser) until an app materializes. With 15 days left in 2009, there's still a chance Microsoft will pull this one off in the nick of time. Granted, Apple will have reached its trillionth app by that point, but the effort will not be lost on the Zune faithful.