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Microsoft To Acquire SwiftKey Predictive Keyboard Technology Company For $250M (hothardware.com)
MojoKid writes: SwiftKey has been one of the more popular predictive keyboard offerings in the mobile space since it was first released in beta form on the Android market back in 2010. What made SwiftKey so appealing was its intelligent predictive texting technology. SwiftKey isn't a simple keyboard replacement. Rather, the software uses a combination of artificial intelligence technologies that give it the ability to learn usage patterns and predict the next word the user most likely intends to type. SwiftKey refines its predictions, learning over time by analyzing data from SMS, Facebook, and Twitter messages, then offering predictions based on the text being entered at the time. It is estimated that SwiftKey is installed on upwards of 500 million mobile devices. According to reports, Microsoft is apparently buying the UK-based company for a cool $250 Million. What Microsoft intends to do with SwiftKey is not clear just yet, but the company has been purchasing mobile apps at a good clip as of late.
Microsoft really wants everyone's keystrokes, don't they?
This has been debunked. There is no keylogger. If you have a packet capture that says otherwise, feel free to correct everyone that bothered to look into it.
What other rationale is there to spend even $1 on a company that develops and maintains a product only to give it away to its customers free of charge?
Intellectual property.
Microsoft learned a long time ago that buying stuff that people already like is far easier than creating stuff that people like.
Log in or piss off.
I find I can "type" almost as fast with the Google keyboard by tracing my finger over letters as I can on a keyboard.
It's actually my preferred form of mobile input.
Bluetooth keyboards. They're easy enough to find.
If you're doing enough typing on your mobile device that you need to type faster, get an actual keyboard.
I've got a case for my Nexus 7 I paid like $30-$40 at Wal Mart (been a while, can't remember how much). It's got a Bluetooth keyboard in it, which you can sync with pretty much anything. I've actually got it paired with a couple of different things because they'll never be in use at the same time.
If you need a physical keyboard, they're cheap enough that you can solve that problem ... apparently Logitech makes a unit you can get for $30 if you look around.
This is a solved problem, and has been for some number of years. A kickstand case to prop it up, and a Bluetooth keyboard turns any tablet into a "convertible" where you can type at properly.
You could do this long before companies started attaching keyboards to tablets. And you can do it a hell of a lot cheaper.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Swype. On my G3 I have both Swype and Swiftkey.
I generally use Swiftkey, but if Microsoft kills it on Android, Swype will do the affair just fine.