T3 India

Software

Microsoft acquires SwiftKey for $250 million

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In a pivotal move from Microsoft, the tech giant purchased SwiftKey for a reported $250 million following their recent announcement to create an intelligent cloud platform. This directly relates to how SwiftKey improves and learns from user keystrokes stored in the cloud, which explains Microsoft’s interest in it.

The deal mutually benefits both parties as their interests align to create a better cloud and AI synergy.

Founders Jon Reynolds and Ben Medlock started developing SwiftKey in 2008 in an effort to create a time-efficient typing solution. SwiftKey works on the principle of the AI predicting the next word the user intends to write and bases this on context rather than relying fully on previous usage history.

SwiftKey launched in 2010 on Android and the iOS version followed suit four years later. The company estimates that it has spared its users of approximately 10 trillion keystrokes across 100 languages, saving more than 1,00,000 years in combined typing time.

[Via SwiftKey Blog]

WhatsApp crosses the one billion user threshold

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The Facebook-owned popular mobile messaging app, WhatsApp finally hit the one billion user base on February 1,2016. The messenger is used for a wide variety of purposes ranging from personal to business.

Within a span of 6 years, WhatsApp has penetrated the international market with zero monetisation and more recently, dropped the annual fee of $1 with a further emphasis on keeping the app free of ads. Competitive apps still charge for optional items like stickers and emoticons.

Facebook acquired the app in 2014 for $19 billion with an aim to use the data to improve their own targeted advertising.

[Via Whatsapp Blog]

Instappy makes creating an Android or iOS app really easy

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You’ve got the creative vision for an app that will change the world but have no coding expertise to develop one. Few options include hiring a bunch of coders and UX guys to develop an app from scratch or outsourcing the development to an app making company. The issue with these two options is that the initial outlay can be really expensive. However, a service like Instappy claims to solve this issue.

The service allows users to create Android and/or iOS apps with few simple clicks and allows to customise the app as per their need. The apps can be configured to push notifications in the app, a payment gateway, analytics, variety of APIs and lots more. Instappy says a full fledged retail commerce app like Jabong and Myntra can also be developed within minutes.

As for the price, it has a free plan to start with but as move to the paid tier, you get more features according to the selected plan. The basic paid plan starts from Rs. 49,000 for a year.

Instappy

Bonjour! Microsoft launches on screen Skype translator in six languages

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On Thursday, Microsoft unveiled its new translating service, which provides real time translation when you’re calling your long-lost pal from China.

Currently Microsoft has rolled out this software capable of translating conversations in six different languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Mandarin.

Going by the accuracy of Google Translate and other online translating devices, you’re probably thinking, do I trust computer translation enough to make try and understand what’s going on in an important business call? Yes you should. According to Microsoft, a PHD student trusted this software to unite donors around the world for a non-profit project, – that’s good enough for us.

As you can imagine the service isn’t going to be perfect as it's currently in a preview stage. It won’t always pick up proper names or place names, so expect to have a bit of a giggle at your contacts expense. A bunch of additional languages and improvements to the service are to arrive in the coming months.

You’ll need to download Skype with Translator for your desktop or tablet, and make sure you have a headset with microphone functionality. Once you’ve downloaded, choose a contact to call, click the globe icon and select the languages that you and your contact speak, and your ready to go.

Need a swanky tablet to utilise Skype Translator? Check out our top tablets of 2015. 

WhatsApp edges a step closer to 1 billion users

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The WhatsApp team certainly have reason to celebrate. The messaging app just hit 900 million monthly active users and, as always with these things, took to Facebook to announce the good news. The milestone was reached seven months after WhatsApp hit the 700 million mark.

WhatsApp has seen a massive surge of late. It’s reportedly racked up tens of millions of users in just a matter of weeks and now has its sights set on 1 billion. The way it’s going, that shouldn’t take long. In June, WhatsApp became only the second Android app to reach 1 billion downloads, and it looks like there’s still more to come.

It’s gone from strength to strength ever since it was acquired by Facebook for a steep $19bn in 2014. Mark Zuckerberg threw down big money, but it’s paying dividends. In comparison, Facebook's own Messenger app hit 700 million users in June following its separation from the core service.

The one to beat, though, is Facebook’s main mobile app which boasts a whopping 1.49 billion monthly active users. Whether or not WhatsApp can catch up with it remains to be seen, but we wouldn’t rule it out. One thing we do know is that a business model isn’t far away.

Zuckerberg previously said: “Once we get to being a service with 1 billion, there are many clear ways that we can monetise.” The question is, how? The Facebook founder has already ruled out ads, so it'll be interesting to see what it does.