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Apple does to Swiftkey what Microsoft did to Netscape

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  Apple does to Swiftkey what Microsoft did to Netscape RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-06-19 13:00 +0000
    Re: Apple does to Swiftkey what Microsoft did to Netscape Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-06-19 11:53 -0700
      Re: Apple does to Swiftkey what Microsoft did to Netscape RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-06-20 09:32 +0000
        Re: Apple does to Swiftkey what Microsoft did to Netscape Huge <Huge@nowhere.much.invalid> - 2014-06-20 09:52 +0000
        Re: Apple does to Swiftkey what Microsoft did to Netscape Johny B Good <johnny-b-good@invalid.ntlworld.com> - 2014-06-21 02:06 +0100
        Re: Apple does to Swiftkey what Microsoft did to Netscape Anssi Saari <as@sci.fi> - 2014-06-21 14:23 +0300
      Re: Apple does to Swiftkey what Microsoft did to Netscape "voyager529" <voyager529@live.com> - 2015-03-27 12:12 -0400

#3758 — Apple does to Swiftkey what Microsoft did to Netscape

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/11/swiftkey_were_not_afraid_of_the_big_bad_apple/

//--clip
The British creators of a smart-typing app called SwiftKey have denied
the decision to give it away for free was inspired by Apple's
announcement of its own keyboard software.

London-based SwiftKey has cut the cost of its app from £1.49 to
nothing, relying on a freemium model to help bring home the bacon.

Apple recently threw developers like SwiftKey a bone, announcing it
would allow the sale of keyboard programmes through the app store. This
looked like a great development for the London firm, which currently
only sells its app for Android.

But this chink of hope was soon stopped shut after the fruity firm said
it would be bundling its own free typing gizmo Quicktype with iOS8. So
even though Swiftkey would be able to flog its wares on the app store,
Apple will be offering a very similar service totally free of
charge. 
//--clip

Shitty move, Apple, shitty move.

-- 
RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com>

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#3762

On 2014-06-19 13:00:08 +0000, RS Wood said:

> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/11/swiftkey_were_not_afraid_of_the_big_bad_apple/ 
> 
> 
> //--clip
> The British creators of a smart-typing app called SwiftKey have denied
> the decision to give it away for free was inspired by Apple's
> announcement of its own keyboard software.
> 
> London-based SwiftKey has cut the cost of its app from £1.49 to
> nothing, relying on a freemium model to help bring home the bacon.
> 
> Apple recently threw developers like SwiftKey a bone, announcing it
> would allow the sale of keyboard programmes through the app store. This
> looked like a great development for the London firm, which currently
> only sells its app for Android.
> 
> But this chink of hope was soon stopped shut after the fruity firm said
> it would be bundling its own free typing gizmo Quicktype with iOS8. So
> even though Swiftkey would be able to flog its wares on the app store,
> Apple will be offering a very similar service totally free of
> charge.//--clip
> 
> Shitty move, Apple, shitty move.

Is it the same exact thing here or are they different?  Apple bundles a 
text editor with iOS too, but this hasn't stopped many companies from 
offering their own.  Ditto PDF readers.

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#3773

On Thu, 19 Jun 2014 11:53:25 -0700
Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> wrote:

> > But this chink of hope was soon stopped shut after the fruity firm said
> > it would be bundling its own free typing gizmo Quicktype with iOS8. So
> > even though Swiftkey would be able to flog its wares on the app store,
> > Apple will be offering a very similar service totally free of
> > charge.//--clip
> > 
> > Shitty move, Apple, shitty move.
> 
> Is it the same exact thing here or are they different?  Apple bundles a 
> text editor with iOS too, but this hasn't stopped many companies from 
> offering their own.  Ditto PDF readers.


To me, they seem like the same thing.  Text editors, PDF readers are
applications some will use and some will not, whereas a keyboard
mechanism is essential.  It seems Swiftkey is doomed since Apple is
offering essentially the same functionality via their own code, which
comes pre-installed.  Why bother to download/pay for Swiftkey?  To me,
that's like IE coming pre-installed on Win95: why bother
downloading/buying a different browser?  

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#3774

On 2014-06-20, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:

> Why bother to download/pay for Swiftkey?  To me,
> that's like IE coming pre-installed on Win95: why bother
> downloading/buying a different browser?  

Because IE sucks?


-- 
Today is Sweetmorn, the 25th day of Confusion in the YOLD 3180
"I do not believe in revealed religion — I will have nothing to do with your
immortality; we are miserable enough in this life, without speculating on
another." Lord Byron, 1778-1824, letter to Rev. Francis Hodgson, 1811

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#3779

On Fri, 20 Jun 2014 09:32:24 +0000, RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com>
wrote:

>On Thu, 19 Jun 2014 11:53:25 -0700
>Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> > But this chink of hope was soon stopped shut after the fruity firm said
>> > it would be bundling its own free typing gizmo Quicktype with iOS8. So
>> > even though Swiftkey would be able to flog its wares on the app store,
>> > Apple will be offering a very similar service totally free of
>> > charge.//--clip
>> > 
>> > Shitty move, Apple, shitty move.
>> 
>> Is it the same exact thing here or are they different?  Apple bundles a 
>> text editor with iOS too, but this hasn't stopped many companies from 
>> offering their own.  Ditto PDF readers.
>
>
>To me, they seem like the same thing.  Text editors, PDF readers are
>applications some will use and some will not, whereas a keyboard
>mechanism is essential.  It seems Swiftkey is doomed since Apple is
>offering essentially the same functionality via their own code, which
>comes pre-installed.  Why bother to download/pay for Swiftkey?  To me,
>that's like IE coming pre-installed on Win95: why bother
>downloading/buying a different browser?  

 Maybe because most users were ignorant of the fact that IE had 75
known security issues of which only 25 had been addressed despite some
of the remaining issues being several years old?

 For those interested in the quality of the browser regarding security
issues, they could have just taken their cue from the Pentagon in
recommending that all their staff stop using IE and use a free
alternative instead such as Firefox (which only had 25 security issues
of which 5 remained outstanding) or, even better, they could have
looked at Opera where the figures were zero and zero.

 Apparently Opera didn't qualify as a "Free Web Browser", not even the
free version on account of its almost invisible (by today's adware
standards) banner ad. Opera eventually saw the error of their ways but
it was too little too late and the damage had already been done.
-- 
J B Good

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#3781

RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> writes:

> It seems Swiftkey is doomed since Apple is offering essentially the
> same functionality via their own code, which comes pre-installed.  Why
> bother to download/pay for Swiftkey?  To me, that's like IE coming
> pre-installed on Win95: why bother downloading/buying a different
> browser?

Well, Google did the same basically didn't they? They added prediction
and swiping to the stock Android keyboard and even made it a freebie in
the Play store so you can run it on any Android device.

Swiftkey still has value on Android as it syncs personal dictionaries
between devices and has multi language support on predictions. 

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#7208

On 6/19/2014 2:53:22 PM, Oregonian Haruspex wrote:
> On 2014-06-19 13:00:08 +0000, RS Wood said:
> 
>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/11/swiftkey_were_not_afraid_of_the_big_bad_apple/>
>>
>> //--clip
>> The British creators of a smart-typing app called SwiftKey have denied
>> the decision to give it away for free was inspired by Apple's
>> announcement of its own keyboard software.
>>
>> London-based SwiftKey has cut the cost of its app from Ł1.49 to
>> nothing, relying on a freemium model to help bring home the bacon.
>>
>> Apple recently threw developers like SwiftKey a bone, announcing it
>> would allow the sale of keyboard programmes through the app store. This
>> looked like a great development for the London firm, which currently
>> only sells its app for Android.
>>
>> But this chink of hope was soon stopped shut after the fruity firm said
>> it would be bundling its own free typing gizmo Quicktype with iOS8. So
>> even though Swiftkey would be able to flog its wares on the app store,
>> Apple will be offering a very similar service totally free of
>> charge.//--clip
>>
>> Shitty move, Apple, shitty move.
> 
> Is it the same exact thing here or are they different?  Apple bundles a
> text editor with iOS too, but this hasn't stopped many companies from
> offering their own.  Ditto PDF readers.
> 
> 

This analogy would be more apt if Netscape was the number one purchased app
on another OS that had a respectable market share. Conversely, Google has had
their own swiftkey-style functionality in the stock keyboard; Samsung and HTC
have offered something similar in /their/ stock keyboards. Swiftkey also
'borrowed' the gesture typing feature from Swype, which was the first (that
I'm aware of) product of its kind back in the Windows Mobile 6.5 days...yet
somehow, both companies manage to sell their keyboards for a few bucks, with
a few IAPs for good measure, and still make a living, despite this basically
becoming default behavior on whatever mobile device that's purchased. I have
faith that the pie is big enough for everyone to have a worthwhile slice.

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