The Web giant has been prepping a mobile keyboard for the iPhone and iPad “for months,” The Verge reported Tuesday, though there’s been no official word on the matter from the company itself.
Google is apparently hoping its keyboard, if it gets released, will lead users to Google Search, which continues to be the company’s main revenue driver via ads shows as part of results. It plans to do this by including “a variety of search options,” including a logo button that’ll take you directly to its homepage, The Verge said.
The keyboard, which employees at the company have supposedly been testing for some time, could also include individual buttons for pictures and GIF searches, both of which would likely be powered by Google image search.
And as with Google’s Android keyboard – though unlike Apple’s iOS offering – there’ll be the option to slide your finger between letters while the software predicts your words.
Apple introduced third-party keyboard support with the launch of iOS 8 in 2014, a welcome move that led to a flurry of options landing in the App Store. Android users, on the other hand, have long had plenty to choose from if the stock offering fails to deliver.
It certainly makes sense that the Mountain View company is cooking up a keyboard of its own for iOS. Google already offers well over 50 apps for Apple’s mobile operating system, and so a keyboard – one that could lead to even more cash coming its way –seems like a no-brainer for the business, though of course the big challenge will be getting people to use it.
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