Looks like Twitter won the battle for TweetDeck

Twitter has acquired TweetDeck for between $40 million and $50 million, according to a report in TechCrunch.

Of course, you may remember earlier reports that UberMedia acquired TweetDeck as part of its efforts to roll up various Twitter apps under a single company. In February, All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka wrote that the deal was “pretty far along, with signed term sheets, etc.” However, there was no official announcement, and last month new stories emerged saying Twitter, not UberMedia, was the acquirer.

What happened? UberMedia reportedly had a 30-day exclusive on the deal, but negotiations took too long, giving Twitter an opportunity to make a higher offer.

As the most-popular Twitter client not created by the company itself, TweetDeck is clearly an attractive target for both Twitter and UberMedia. Twitter has said that it wants to control the consumer experience around the service, and is encouraging external developers to focus on something other than a straightforward Twitter client. If Twitter has acquired TweetDeck, then it has further locked-up the consumer experience.

A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment on the story.