New Generation of Text Input Optimization
February 17, 2010
The rapid introduction of touch-screen phones replaced the old 12-button-keypad with the full QUERTY touchpad keyboard. Naturally, this made the T9 text input system obsolete but there is a new solution on the way.
The co-inventor of T9, Cliff Kushler, is also a co-founder of Swype, a technology startup that just raised another $1.0MM in venture capital funding from Docomo Capital. This was an extension to the $5.6MM Series B venture capital financing in December 09 led by Nokia Growth Partners and Samsung Ventures. The company develops a product that allows users to input text by just sliding a finger across the screen keyboard. The solution is very cool and if developed properly will be extremely useful. No wonder that two of the biggest cell phone manufacturers, as well as Japan’s leading mobile operator, participated in the Series B venture capital investment.
However, it seems that similar software has been developed by ShapeWriter and SlideIT, so it will be interesting to see which one will come on top. Swype is currently available on Samsung Omnia II; ShapeWriter is available for iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile; and SlideIT is ready for Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Android.