Microsoft Adds Value To Its Artificial Intelligence Portfolio

Microsoft is trying its best to diversify its AI portfolio.

Microsoft Corporation has plans to acquire a renowned artificial intelligence third party keyboard application based in London namely SwiftKeys for an amount worth $250 million. The software behemoth is reportedly working on artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Basically SwiftKey is a predictive keyboard application which has the ability to deduce the next word before it is actually typed.

The SwiftKey keyboard application has been downloaded in more than 300 million Android and iOS products and caters to more than 80 languages. The company is operational in Seoul, San Francisco and London where it has managed to raise $1.75 million as funding that took place in FY03. The major issue with the company was that it could not come up with a stable business model where it succeeded in reporting revenues worth $8.4 million last year.

This is merely because of the core “swipe” feature which allows users to slide through the keys instead of clicking on each of them one after the other. The feature was rolled out as an inbuilt feature in new smartphones. In the start, the application was paid but in FY14, the company made it free of cost offering unique themes for keyboards along with other customization offerings that could be purchased.

The Windows 10 giant already has a renowned keyboard app but considering the popularity of SwiftKeys, the acquisition worth $250 million can actually be a great bargain for the important artificial intelligence technology. This will be different than algorithms which are used conventionally since the neural network assists in predicting the words that follow.

This particular model can be linked in various apps that spans beyond keyboards. This includes the tech giant’s renowned personal digital assistant Cortana. As the deal is inked, the staff at SwiftKeys which is more than 150 individuals will start rendering their services to Microsoft Research.

The chief executive officer of MSFT, Mr. Satya Nadella has diversified the company’s portfolio by adding more productivity apps since he has taken charge of the company in FY14. The company wishes to strengthen its position in the smartphone fraternity. Since the time, Mr. Nadella has become the flagbearer, the company has spent millions of dollars solely on acquisitions, where it acquired Acompli- an email app, Sunrise- a calendar app, Wunderlist- a list maker of everyday chores and also has some great developers on board.

This is partially compliance with the company’s strategy of expanding the services to a wide range of devices and platforms. The SwiftKey is immensely popular amongst the Android consumers and is preinstalled in Xiaomi and Samsung devices. So now MSFT owns the app, then a new range of users will be attracted to it as well.

This acquisition by the company also reflects on the artificial intelligence war that has aroused amongst the tech behemoth recently. This merely focuses on machine learning in which algorithms are designed in manner that ensure high end results. By far AI has evolved to a great extent and will change the course of the tech fraternity.