Microsoft acquires British keyboard app company SwiftKey
Microsoft acquires British keyboard app company SwiftKey
Microsoft has confirmed that it’s acquired the London-based SwiftKey, maker of the highly popular SwiftKey software keyboard that's used on some 300 million Android and iOS devices.
Microsoft:
This acquisition is a great example of Microsoft’s commitment to bringing its software and services to all platforms. We’ll continue to develop SwiftKey’s market-leading keyboard apps for Android and iOS as well as explore scenarios for the integration of the core technology across the breadth of our product and services portfolio. Moreover, SwiftKey’s predictive technology aligns with Microsoft’s investments and ambition to develop intelligent systems that can work more on the user’s behalf and under their control.
In October last year, SwiftKey announced SwiftKey Neural Alpha, a software keyboard that uses an artificial neural network instead of standard predictive algorithms to predict and correct language. In addition to the current SwiftKey keyboard that many Android phone makers are pre-installing on their devices and its SDK, it’s safe to assume that today’s acquisition is also partly motivated by this next-gen input tech.
Microsoft is also in the works to bring its Windows phone’s Word Flow keyboard to iOS. Currently under private testing, it’s expected to land on the App Store in the coming months.
Source: Microsoft.