Image: Swiftkey
Microsoft isn't joking when it says it wants its software and services on as many platforms as possible.The company said on Wednesday morning that it had agreed to buy Swiftkey, a popular third-party predictive typing keyboard that was first released for Android in 2010 and for iOS in September 2014. Microsoft didn't say how much it paid for Swiftkey, but the Financial Times pegged the number around $250 million.Beyond being a nice payday for the Swiftkey team, there's clear benefits for everyday users as well. For one, Swiftkey will continue to be developed for both Android and iOS—they're not disappearing into the void as so frequently happens when tech giants buy startups. Microsoft will also integrate Swiftkey's technology into its own well-reviewed mobile keyboard, called Word Flow, which, according to The Verge, may soon be available for iOS.Like Swiftkey, Word Flow is Microsoft's own predictive typing keyboard—you type "th" and the word "the" will appear as a suggestion, helping save precious keystrokes. The iOS version of Word Flow will reportedly have a one-handed mode, making it possible to effectively type using, say, the thumb of your right hand.Recent history suggests Microsoft will be a perfect steward for Swiftkey's technology. The company in December 2014 bought email startup app Acompli, which was then turned into the mobile version of Outlook—and Outlook just so happens to be among the best reviewed email apps for iOS. (iMore.com, a popular Apple blog, called it the email app iOS users "have been waiting for.") And in February 2015 Microsoft bought Sunrise, a popular mobile calendar app that Microsoft has steadily been integrating into the mobile version of Outlook.