Microsoft has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SwiftKey, developer of a software keyboard and SDK for Android and iOS devices. 

It intends to continue to develop SwiftKey’s free keyboard apps for Android and iOS as well as explore opportunities to integrate the core technology into offerings such as Word Flow technology for Windows.

Microsoft Executive Vice President, Technology and Research,  Harry Shum, said, “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.

In this blog post, SwiftKey co-founders Jon Reynolds and Ben Medlock write, “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 mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our mission is to enhance interaction between people and technology. We think these are a perfect match, and we believe joining Microsoft is the right next stage in our journey.”