MICROSOFT has bought hugely-popular predictive keyboard SwiftKey in a deal worth a reported £174million.

More than 300 million people across the globe use SwiftKey

Ahead of the upcoming launch of its first iPhone keyboard app, Microsoft has brought one of the biggest players in the market.
More than 300 million people across the globe use the third-party keyboard on Android and iOS.
SwiftKey supports more than 100 languages, is incorporated into many apps as the default keyboard, and is pre-installed on many smartphones as the default typing tool.
Microsoft's £174million deal might sound like a lot, although investors have said the price is a little lower than they would have expected even a few year earlier.

SwiftKey was set up in 2008 by Cambridge graduates Jon Reynolds and Dr Ben Medlock.
The company has also worked with Cambridge-based Professor Stephen Hawking, helping the scientist and author to upgrade his communications, applying predictive language software to his system and enabling him to speak faster and continue to give lectures.
Mr Reynolds and Dr Medlock said in a statement: "We're excited to announce an important milestone on SwiftKey's journey. As of today, we have agreed to join the Microsoft family."
Microsoft's executive vice president of technology and research, Harry Shum, said of the deal: "We love SwiftKey's technology and we love the team that Jon and Ben have formed.
"That's why today I'm excited to welcome the company's employees to Microsoft. We believe that together we can achieve orders of magnitude greater scale than either of us could have achieved independently."

CONTD. >>> http://newsnewsblog..com.ng/2016/02/microsoft-just-spent-174million-on-this.html#0

SwiftKeyboard, simply the best