Back on February 3, 2016, Microsoft announced its acquisition of predictive keyboard developer Swiftkey. The acquisition hints at Microsoft’s ongoing investment in artificial intelligence technology, machine learning, and cross-compatible solutions that provide real productivity advancements on Windows, iOS, and Android. Today, Microsoft updated their original blog post announcing the acquisition with a single sentence:
Update March 1, 2016: Microsoft has completed the acquisition of SwiftKey.
That’s a real dearth of fanfare for an acquisition that is costing Microsoft a cool $250 million. Here’s Microsoft’s rationale for the deal:
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.
We’re looking forward to hearing more about how Microsoft intends to utilize the predictive technology that Swiftkey is known for. The Redmond company has its own similar technology in its Word Flow keyboard, which is making its way to iOS, and so in all likelihood Microsoft has more in mind than just making a better keyboard. Time will tell, of course, and we’ll be here to keep you up to date.
