Microsoft is acquiring SwiftKey, the UK based start-up, which is renowned for its Keyboard app, for a sum of $250 Million.
The app which debuted in 2010, gained fame a year later, when it introduced accurate next word prediction, a technology based on its artificial-intelligence engine.
SwiftKey Keyboard dropped its price tag to go free in 2014, and introduced in-app purchases for themes. The reason behind this was that it could not longer sustain a business proper model, despite the app’s popularity.
Microsoft’s acquisition of SwiftKey doesn’t spell the end for the keyboard, in fact it is a much needed boost for the keyboard app maker. The Redmond company had acquired quite a few applications last year, including the Accompli Email app, Sunrise Calendar, Wunderlist To-Do app. Microsoft has a plethora of Android and iOS apps which have been proved to be a huge hit, and there is no reason as to why SwiftKey won’t be.
It remains to be seen whether Microsoft will rebrand SwiftKey as Word Flow, the keyboard app which it ships as part of the Windows Phone operating system. Or perhaps it could use the AI technology from SwiftKey and embed it in Word Flow.
source: Financial Times.
