The next big release from Apple appears to be stacking up as a wearable device, coming up more than just a couple of times with a code-name iWatch. This device has been teased again today with a release inside China with inside sources suggesting Apple has been creating prototypes of the device and is currently […]
It would appear that Amazon is aiming to expand their grasp of the consumer goods universe with a program called Amazon Pantry. This service would expand Amazon’s collection of goods shipped in low-cost packages beyond their already expansive set of foods and dry goods. Amazon is said to be going into more direct competition with […]
Though the vote of 3-2 knocks out a technical ban in the FCC, the rule against using cellphones to make calls in-flight is still being left up to the Department of Transportation to make a final ruling on here near the end of 2013. This week’s vote was a close one. The FCC’s meeting today […]
This week a report has been struck by the folks at Counterpoint Research that suggests that it’s Samsung and Apple ahead in the sales of smartphones worldwide by a mile throughout the month of October. Their research shows models sold throughout the world, so to speak, surveying 33 countries throughout it, including China where they […]
The five largest USA-based carriers have come to an agreement through the CTIA (The Wireless Association) with the FCC over their policy for unlocking phones in North America. Barring those devices the institutions have reason to believe were stolen or otherwise fraudulently acquired, it would appear that the carrier unlock sequence has been made as […]
There are a massive number of Apple vs Samsung and Samsung vs Apple court cases going on in the world today, and more still having appeared in the recent past. What we’re seeing this week is a single South Korean case ending with Apple winning over Samsung, the Galaxy smartphone maker not able to prove […]
San Francisco-based Fleksy has launched its in-app SDK integration for iOS via four new partners who implement the software in their own apps today. These include Launch Center Pro, Wordbox, GV Connect and BlindSquare, and were chosen from a number of potential partners to help Fleksy demonstrate the power and range of its virtual keyboard.
Operating on iOS as a replacement for a default system component like the keyboard is not an easy task; Apple will not allow third-party devs to replace some system features like the keyboard, browser, messaging or calling app in the same way that users can do so on Android. Fleksy is attempting to get around this limitation by providing an SDK that third-party devs can use to build Fleksy into their own apps one at a time, in much the same way that Google makes it possible for devs to build in an option to have their software open links in Chrome on iOS.
These four launch partner apps are all available right now in the App Store, and take advantage of Fleksy’s unique ability to interpret a user’s intended input regardless of where they strike on the screen to different ends. Fleksy co-founder and COO Ioannis Verdelis explained to me the selection process for this first batch of apps in an interview.
“We’ve had a lot of interest [from third-party devs] really since our first release of the app on iOS,” he said. “We’ve picked four partners who worked with us through the beta process of the SDK, and we’ve tried to have one app that addresses the accessibility market, BlindSquare, and then we picked other popular apps that we think have meaningful use of text input in their design.”
GV Connect is a Google voice client where you can use Fleksy to send SMS messages; Wordbox is a text editor; and Launch Center Pro is “a bit of everything,” says Verdelis, with shortcuts that help people navigate iOS and get things done quicker. For these first four partners, he notes that it was important not just to get partners who would use the keyboard in interesting ways, to help showcase the possibilities for others, but to use people who helped define the product, too.
From here, Fleksy intends to continue to be selective about SDK partners and work with third-party devs to launch their integrations for a little while, but eventually the plan is to open it up for anyone to use independent of Fleksy’s involvement. Revenue for Fleksy differs depending on how each dev makes their revenue, Verdelis says, with some like Launch Center Pro trying things like offering it up as an in-app purchase and then sharing revenue from those sales, and others going for a more straightforward licensing fee.
Fleksy launched as a standalone third-party keyboard on Android out of beta last week, and Verdelis says they’ve racked up over 100,000 downloads since then. On iOS, they’ve had over 500,000 since launching their standalone app, but the SDK is the focus here in terms of business targets, so watching to see how the stable of Fleksy-using apps grows from here will be key.
Crytek made its name on the back of some of the coolest video games for the PC and console on the market like Crysis. Crytek also has a free to play game for PC players called Warface. Crytek has announced that it has teamed up with a company called DeNA to launch its first mobile […]
To date, there has been no way to run apps on Android with real and reliable privacy controls. Android version 4.3 and higher take a huge step in the right direction, letting users install apps while denying some of the apps’ attempts to collect the user’s data.
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To date, there has been no way to run apps on Android with real and reliable privacy controls. Android version 4.3 and higher take a huge step in the right direction, letting users install apps while denying some of the apps’ attempts to collect the user’s data.
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