App.net is slowly but surely becoming a success, and Dalton Caldwell is showing people that even though you are forking out some money, it is worth it for an ad free, API open source microblogging site.

The general public are mixed on their reactions to the website, which is like Twitter, but free of ads with an yearly subscription fee. Some applaud it for finally stepping up and doing something different to make money; others questioning why they would rather pay $50 a year than to just have ads.

However, whatever the general public thinks, the force driving the website is developers. There have been tons of developers flocking to App.net in search of a new Twitter, after Twitter started clamping down on their API earlier this month. Even though the developer package costs $100 a year, it does offer some incredible ways to create a mini-service in touch with App.net, and for many developers that create applications as a hobby, it is a goldmine.

As of right now, App.net now has two dedicated mobile apps, one on Android and a new one, named Rhino, for iOS. This covers about 90% of all the mobile operating systems seeing as Windows Phone and BlackBerry hog a poor 2 to 4 percent. If we see some nifty developer stray into the WP and BB markets, it will really show how active App.net developers are.

This isn’t the first iOS app to have App.net running. Buffer actually beat beat Rhino to it but Rhino is the first to solely work around App.net’s design.

Even though they are not in their final stages, we believe it won’t be long before Hooha (the Android client), Rhino, and App.net will be fully functional and ready to rock. Watch out Twitter.

[via TNW & The Verge, image via Planet1107]