Microsoft plans to delist its SwiftKey predictive keyboard from the iOS App Store on October 5th, according to a report by ZDNet. The news comes in the form of an email to Senior Contributing Editor Mary Jo Foley replying to a query about why the iOS app hasn’t received an update in over a year.
“As of October 5, support for SwiftKey iOS will end and it will be delisted from the Apple App Store. Microsoft will continue support for SwiftKey Android as well as the underlying technology that powers the Windows touch keyboard. For those customers who have SwiftKey installed on iOS, it will continue to work until it is manually uninstalled or a user gets a new device. Please visit Support.SwiftKey.com for more information.”
The above statement came from Chris Wolfe, Director of Product Management at SwiftKey. The announcement comes just a week before the app is scheduled to be delisted from the iOS App Store. And with no reason given, users can only speculate as to why Microsoft is consigning their long-running keyboard app to a slow death.
Foley’s theory is that Microsoft’s iOS developers have determined there’s no good way to make integrated products due to Apple’s walled-garden policies. If they can’t access certain iOS interfaces, making apps requiring integration is pointless.
As of this writing, the SwiftKey app is still available in the iOS App Store. The latest version is 2.9.2 and marked as updated “1yr ago.” There’s no indication from the app or the App Store that it will soon be removed and eventually axed.
Source: ZDNet
