iOS 8 brought many features to the iPhone, one being different third party keyboards. Well, the company’s direct competitor, Google, is supposedly making a keyboard for the iPhone. The keyboard is said to have been in development for months. It is unknown on when Google plans to release this new keyboard for iOS, but hopefully it will be very soon.
The Google keyboard for iOS includes many different features, just like the Google keyboard for Android. You are able to slide your finger on the keyboard for gesture-based typing, and have Google guess the word you are trying to type. Tapping the Google logo will let you access traditional web search. This keyboard will also have buttons for pictures and GIF search which will be powered by Google image search. This keyboard will also have voice search but will lack in text and image-based search.
This keyboard was specifically designed to increase the number of Google searches on iOS. As there isn’t enough mobile searches compared to desktop so Google hopes they can fix this by releasing their new keyboard.
You’re probably wondering why Google needs these searches to be in the search engine itself and on mobile. A high percentage of desktop searches are for social media platforms like Facebook, or email platforms like Gmail — these searches are unnecessary to make on mobile phones as there are apps made for that, in order for the user to access these platforms. Google Search is where Google shows their most expensive ads, which is crucial for them to maintain revenue.
So, Google keyboard for iOS seems pretty interesting. What do you think about having a new keyboard for your iPhone, would you use it? It’s pretty funny how companies that compete with eachother are swapping places, like Apple and “Apple Music” being the Play Store, and now Google working on a keyboard for iOS, I find it very interesting! We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Source: The Verge
