Microsoft acquires SwiftKey in support of re-inventing productivity ambition - The Official Microsoft Blog

Hey Cortana, why did Microsoft just pay ~$250M for a better keyboard app?

"I’m pleased to announce that Microsoft has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SwiftKey, whose highly rated, highly engaging SwiftKey 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."

Microsoft acquires SwiftKey in support of re-inventing productivity ambition - The Official Microsoft Blog