High hopes for iPad push Apple shares near $300

In this April 3, 2010 file photo, an Apple iPad is shown on the first day of sales at an Apple store in San Francisco. Apple Inc.'s stock flirted with $300 Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, as investors high on the iPad's promise pushed shares to a record peak. Analysts see few reasons to believe shares will stop there.

Google Buys BlindType to Keep it from Apple's iPhone, iPad

Yahoo and google Oct. 1 bought BlindType, whose software program may possibly be used on Apple's iPhone, iPad and Search engines Android devices to make typing much easier, for an undisclosed sum.

BlindType lets consumers variety pretty significantly anywhere on the device's touchscreen, recognizes users' gestures and translates them into text. The concept is that customers needn't watch their keyboard the whole time.

"Although this would typically lead to numerous spelling mistakes that would be impossible to autocorrect, BlindType predicts what the user intended to write with a success rate not previously observed on any other program," BlindType explained on its Web website.

"We're excited to welcome the BlindType team to Yahoo and google," Search engines told eWEEK. "With their help, we hope to make touch typing on your mobile device easier and quicker than ever."

BlindType's app hasn't yet been released, however it need to go a lengthy way toward enhancing the virtual keyboard enter knowledge on Android smartphones, which has largely lagged that of the iPhone.

It's probably Yahoo created the move to keep Apple from acquiring the firm, or at least guarantee the technology does not make it onto the iPhone or iPad.

BlindType underscores the significance of Yahoo to own cutting-edge mobile applications to lure users to Android smartphones and tablets as opposed to Apple's iPhone and iPad, which dominate the U.S. in their markets.

Apple's iPhone holds 23.8 % in the U.S. smartphone marketplace, followed by Android at 17 %, comScore mentioned last month.

The software is 1 of several new enter technologies to take advantage of the keyboard situation, joining Swype, which will allow customers to input text on a touchscreen keyboard with swiping gestures.

Verizon Wireless' Samsung Fascinate inclides a Swype button on its virtual keyboard in order that customers don't need to manually launch the application. It really is unclear what Google's acquisition of BlindType will mean for Swype's prospects on Android devices.

BlindType is the newest of roughly two dozen acquisitions Yahoo has created dating back to August 2009. The corporation has been in particular busy bulking up its social media arsenal, acquiring Slide, Jambool, Angstro and SocialDeck.