Using SwiftKey on your Android, iPhone? Microsoft just bought it

Microsoft has confirmed that the software keyboard developing company SwiftKey has been acquired by it. The software keyboard is highly rated and one of the most preferred keyboard alternatives for Android and iPhone users.

Harry Shum, Executive Vice President, Technology and Research, Microsoft, said, ‘I’m pleased to announce that Microsoft has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SwiftKey, whose highly rated, highly engaging SwiftKey_Logomark_mdpi-232x80SwiftKey software keyboard and SDK powers more than 300 million Android and iOS devices. In this cloud-first, mobile-first world, SwiftKey’s technology aligns with our vision for more personal computing experiences that anticipate our needs versus responding to our commands, and directly supports our ambition to reinvent productivity by leveraging the intelligent cloud. SwiftKey estimates that its users have saved nearly 10 trillion keystrokes, across 100 languages, saving more than 100,000 years in combined typing time. Those are impressive results for an app that launched initially on Android in 2010 and arrived on iOS less than two years ago.’

 ‘We’re excited to announce an important milestone on SwiftKey’s journey. As of today, we have agreed to join the Microsoft family,’ said a post by the co-founders, Jon Reynolds and Ben Medlock, on SwiftKey’s blog site. ‘Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our mission is to enhance interaction between people and technology. We think these are a perfect match, and we believe joining Microsoft is the right next stage in our journey,’ they further mentioned.

Harry further added, ‘In the coming months, we’ll have more to share about how we’ll integrate SwiftKey technology with our Guinness World Record Word Flow technology for Windows. In the interim, I’m extremely excited about the technology, talent and market position SwiftKey brings to us with this acquisition, and about how this further demonstrates Microsoft’s desire to bring key apps and technologies to platforms from Windows to Android to iOS.’

Will this move see Windows phone having better software keyboards in future? Or will it see a limitation on Android and iOS platforms?