Autocorrect, next word prediction, themes, emojis. Well, almost all mobile keyboards around can do all of that. Where’s the innovation?

The keyboard is one of the most used mobile applications, is there one that can deliver a unique and exceptional user-experience?

A disruptive and more importantly a useful technology is one that helps solve a problem or make life better and easier for its users. Mobile users are different than those searching on the desktop. Immediacy of finding information, relevance of content and ease of making a quick decision are some expectations of a user using a smartphone.

Users are constantly interfacing with their mobile devices to share, socialize, consume and create content, avail services etc. Facebook and Whatsapp stand out as as the most popular apps based on user base. But the two other engageement touchpoints that see a high engagement –are Call and Keyboard. However, from the mechanical clicks to soft touch and touchscreens, the most widely used input device, the keyboard has not seen outstanding changes in the last few decades. Not many existing keyboards are recognizing the importance of the keyboard is an effective platform to build innovative consumer experiences.

The Evolution of Keyboards

It was not until 2007, with the launch of Apple iPhone that the touchscreen and the soft keyboard became the preferred text input methods on mobile phones and soon enough for many other mobile devices.

In the world of keyboards, users have a lot of choices. But the ones that will see more user love in the coming months and years will be the ones that have the capability to bring simplicity to content and service discoveries. Predictive and intent-based targeting mechanism to deliver relevant information to consumers on their mobile devices at that single point of intent is the game-changing disruption that is not present in most of existing keyboards available on Android or iOS. There’s still much to be seen in the new era of evolution of mobile keyboards.

Next-Generation Keyboard

Keyboards are doing all kind of key things like autocorrect, themes, word prediction, multiple languages and emojis but there is hardly any competition when it comes going beyond the expected and giving mobile users the hyper-intelligent content and services discoveries that delight them in their exact moment of need.

Xploree is focused on empowering the consumers to decide when they want to interact with a discovery. The entire discovery experience is user-initiated that’s based on the principle of respecting user preferences on mobile. Of all the predictions on mobile user experience and engagement, Xploree stands out as an innovative and intelligent keyboard.

Xploree’s strong point is also that it allows the user to be in control, granting a more enjoyable and a satisfactory consumer experience through nonintrusive, non-interruptive, relevant content recommendations.

It is perhaps for these reasons that Xploree has managed to partner with leading ecosystem players including Yahoo, Groupon, Grabon etc. and OEM majors who have pre-installed the platform on mobile devices. For instance Coolpad’s latest model Coolpad Note 3 is pre-embedded with Xploree keyboard that pivots on delivering consumer experience discovery on mobile with special attention to the privacy needs of the markets where it is shipped. Xploree keyboard allows opt-in for personalized discovery across apps and then delivers deals, services etc. by understanding the consumer expressions and intent on the device thus putting the choice in consumers’ hands.

Xploree Benefits to Mobile Users

• Experience useful search and discovery without exiting the app, and remain in control of the recommendations.
• Non-intrusive, non-interruptive,user-initiated interactions.
• Xploree delivers a seamless user-experience across apps including mobile search, mobile instant messaging, mobile email, mobile commerce, and mobile app stores.
• Strict privacy controls, opt-in, opt-out features, quick opt-outs (such as incognito mode on browsers).
• Multi-lingual keyboard supporting vernacular languages such as Hindi, Telugu and transliterated languages such as Hinglish

Understanding and delivering on user intent is the next frontier of mobile user experience and engagement. Xploree Keyboard brings in simplicity and insight to delight the users in their mobile moments whether the intent is to find a nearby pizza place in the next minute or book air tickets for this weekend. Xploree users are enjoying streamlined experiences of finding relevant content or services without leaving the app they are engaged on most.

The partnerships and industry accolades for Xploree including Frost & Sullivan’s recent acknowledgement as the next generation mobile marketing is a strong acknowledgement of the transformation and evolution of mobile text input or next-generation keyboard technology.

Download Xploree here and find out how it helps you in finding the most useful information, product or service without leaving the app

The post Innovation in Intelligence Driven Mobile Keyboards appeared first on Xploree.

More than 80% mobile users search for brand promotions and coupons, Xploree addresses this demand with relevant and faster brand-user connectivity in the mobile moment. With an opportunity to provide millions of mobile users with what they need, we are now able to give our users more offers that comes with our recent partnership with GrabOn India. Through this partnership, Xploree offers GrabOn the most apt mobile platform to help online shoppers discover digital coupons and deals during their conversations on their favorite messaging apps or social platforms.

Easier, faster and closest to user intent; users can discover offers and information on the go, and redeem coupons digitally or just show at the counter right from their smartphones.

“We believe technology innovation is central to our commitment to offer an enhanced end users’online shopping experience,” said  Ashok Reddy, Founder & CEO – GrabOn. “Partnership with game-changing mobile technology solution Xploree extends our core commitment to the mobile platform. Xploree users can access digital coupon solutions from our premium partners including Amazon, Snapdeal, Jabong, Croma, Ola, Uber, Food Panda, Flipkart, Grofers, Paytm, Yep Me, Zivame to name a few. The partnership will fuel our growth ambitions as the fastest growing coupon company in India, with over 4 million unique visitors visiting our website and over 4.3 million coupons being redeemed every month. Our current market valuation (GMV) is estimated at $80 million per year and we expect this to increase manifold through our access to smartphone users in India’s tier-1 and 2 markets,” he added.

Sumit Goswami, CEO, KeyPoint Technologies commented, “We are pleased to partner with GrabOn to deliver next generation mobile marketing experience to users through our award-winning platform – Xploree. According to Frost & Sullivan’s (F&S) study, Xploree’s ability to capture user intent and offer precise services in the consumer moment can generate revenue of $300 million in a smartphone dominated market by acquiring 50 million engaged users. Our partnership with GrabOn will re-define the way consumers engage with brands and services in India by facilitating brands and services discovery on mobile devices.”

About GrabOn

Founded in September 2013 by Mr. Ashok Reddy, GrabOn is a customer-centric online coupons and deals company which caters to the needs of all Indian shoppers.

Xploree is available in India, download Xploree on Google Play.

It’s free! To know more about us or to partner with us, write to us at info@xploree.com

With India’s e-commerce market set to hit $76 billion by 2021 from $13.6 billion in 2014 (according to e-Tailing India), big retailers are going online and launching apps to attract Indian mobile consumers. This article by Sumit Goswami, CEO KeyPoint Technologies, originally appeared on @IAMAIForum Thinking Aloud Mobile apps are empowering consumers purchase process and offering retailers and businesses to interact with their customer dynamically. But, with more than one billion apps lining up on Android and iOS platforms, users don’t recall or have easy access to new apps and services that are available on the mobile or the web. In an overcrowded app market, cutting through the noise, and winning user attention has never been more difficult. Contrary to what many would assume, app discovery doesn’t just happen in the app store, search and discovery on some websites or apps are how most people find the apps that might be most useful to them. Obviously there is a huge need for a better way for users to discover new apps and engage with existing ones. Retailers and businesses must make extra effort to rethink the approach to app visibility and engagement. For example, approach and interact with users where they are engaged most: during user conversations on a messaging app. If users can find relevant recommendations that match their immediate intent, they are most likely to click on a deep link to view a local offer within the shopping app. Platforms and apps that support deep-linking can create a higher level of engagement and retailers must take full advantage of such platforms.

Messaging Apps are now the Most Loved Platforms

According to a report by Flurry, retention rates of messaging apps out-performed the average of all apps. Messaging app retention was found to be 1.9 times better than the average for one-month retention and 5.6 times better than the average for 12-month retention. In the agile Indian mobile landscape, it’s great to see innovations moving beyond simple ecommerce apps to building stronger engagement models with their users. Flipkart’s new chat app Ping is a step in the right direction of reaching users where they are engaged the most, on messaging apps. There is an incredible power in reaching users at the point of intent or delighting them during their conversations on messaging apps. Brands can reach out and interact most effectively through the users’ preferred medium of conversations on mobile. We agree with Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl’s statement, “Mobile is one of the key drivers fueling the growth of ecommerce. In line with this, our mobile-based open marketplace will allow businesses as well as individuals to harness the power of the Internet instantly through conversations.” Most certainly, a good step forward as shopping becomes more fun and social experience. However, looking at the scenario globally, not many smartphone users have more than 5 retailer apps on their devices. Also, once downloaded the apps are not often used, which leads one to worry about app engagement (the frequency of use of the app once downloaded by the users).

A recent study by Forrester found that only 8 percent of the smartphone owners with at least one app used them daily, while 13 percent said they never used the retail app they downloaded.(Source: Digiday)

Are retailers and businesses exploring the possibilities of giving their users new experiences and engaging with them at the right time and with the right recommendations?

Finding an Optimal Solution to App Discoverability & App Engagement Challenge

App discoverability is a challenge for most brands and businesses and app engagement could be getting tougher by the day as hundreds of new apps launch on android and iOS every day. Then, what is the best solution? There are many apps flooding the play store, some no doubt are very engaging to users, but the optimal solution is to have a common platform that can make these app discoverability and app engagement easier. The future is strong for mcommerce, but a plan to reach out to the mobile users through apps only needs a rethink. In the bigger picture we need a sustainable cross-app, cross-platform model that gives consumers a one stop access to information, products and services that they need in that single moment of intent.

The key is to reach users where they are engaged most and doing so in a non-intrusive way to respect user preferences.

On recent premium partnerships and awards for Xploree, Sumit Goswami, CEO KeyPoint Technologies added, “We are very excited to see industry recognition coming our way as Xploree Search and Discovery platform offers a cross-app, cross-platform solution enabling retailers and businesses to reach their mobile users at that single point of intent. And, for the consumers it is a win-win situation since they find relevant information in their exact moment of need, in a very non-intrusive and user-friendly way during conversations on their favorite messaging apps or social platforms. Apart from Xploree’s deep-linking ability that directs users to product listings or specific deals, we are leading the multi-lingual mobile search and discovery ecosystem. We are ramping up fast and will bring multiple languages to Xploree in the coming months.” Follow us to know more @XploreeMoments | facebook.com/Xploree

Adaptxt College Spirit Keyboards is a new keyboard app aimed specifically at college students, alumni and fans who wish to follow their mascots and show their school spirit even when typing messages to friends or entering queries. The keyboard app displays custom skins targeting specific university themes, so users can proudly represent their regions and schools. The app is very easy to use and installs within seconds on recent Android devices, fact which makes it a must have. Below we will have a review of the main features of this app:

 

– Themes for specific schools and universities

The new keyboard that can be set by the user has the capability of displaying school mascot, as well the specific color and theme of it, so that phone’s virtual keyboard becomes unified with school’s mascot. The logos and color schemes are so well thought-out that they transform default Android’s keyboard completely, enabling users to benefit from an entirely new typing experience.

 

 

– Corrections, predictions and word suggestions

Adaptxt College Spirit Keyboards is capable of adapting itself to each user’s writing style, transforming the experience entirely and enabling everyone to type faster and without errors. The auto-correct feature learns user habits and is able to predict specific words for certain apps, writing styles and more. Predictions can also be improved or deleted by the user.

 

– Personalized predictions

Adaptxt Spirit College Keyboards is capable of learning user’s typing habits based on the current app in use. Thus, predictions may differ from browser input and IM apps such as Skype.

 

– Large language support

Adaptxt College Spirit Keyboards is not just for the English language, but for over 90 ones as well. Thanks to default support for Romanian, Spanish, German, French, Italian and many other languages, Adaptxt College Spirit Keyboards can provide a bilingual typing experience and help its users input text more easily regardless of the current language spoken.

 

– Technical dictionaries included

For those who work or study in a specific field such as business, legal, medical or IT, Adaptxt College Spirit Keyboards provides technical dictionaries who can make technical word suggestions and easily adapt to the background required for the chat. Thus, technical users can accommodate to this app easier and facilitate their typing habits.

 

Conclusion

All in all, Adaptxt College Spirit Keyboards is a must—have skin app that completely transforms and improves user’s writing experience. Furthermore, it features region and university-specific logos and themes that help students wear their favorite mascot with pride, right on their mobile gadgets.

Each college-themed Spirit Keyboard for Android is available at a cost from $0.99 – $2.99 and can be downloaded from Google Play Store.

 

 

View all themes at Adaptxt.com
Article Source: Ask Your Android

Posted by TechInAsia:

Meet the 50 software product startups from India pitching to global CIOs this week

by Malavika Velayanikal

“India has been called the back office of the world, with large IT services companies like Infosys, TCS, and Wipro serving global corporations. But a new wave of software product startups – such as CRM software maker Freshdesk, which rubs shoulders with global leaders in its domain – is giving the country an image makeover.

One problem these tech product companies face is gaining access to decision-makers in US-based companies who are key clients, because selling to them is the best endorsement an Indian software maker can get.

The Indian Software Product Round-Table (iSPIRT), a think-tank dedicated to this segment of tech startups, started InTech50 last year to help the best of them connect with global clients.

Pitching events mostly connect entrepreneurs with investors. InTech50 has something extra: 25 CIOs (chief information officers) from global corporations plus 25 CIOs from top Indian companies are attending the two-day event in Bangalore on April 15-16. So the 50 software product startups from India selected for this event are pitching to potential clients.

The latest edition of this event has attracted CIOs from companies like Citibank, Procter & Gamble, Great American Insurance Company, Kroger, Accretive Health, and Crate & Barrel.

For the visitors, it’s a chance to meet Indian innovators vetted by iSPIRT and hear their ideas. As Sharad Sharma, former head of Yahoo! India R&D who co-founded iSPIRT, tells Tech in Asia: “India can provide innovation blowback to the rest of the world if the tremendous untapped potential here is released.”

Here, in alphabetical order, are the 50 startups pitching their software products to global CIOs invited to Bangalore:…

Xploree
Xploree is a search and discovery platform created by KeyPoint Technologies. It is a user-initiated, hyper-contextual tool with language intelligence that connects mobile device users with brands. Xploree predicts a user’s needs and provides them with relevant content, apps, deals, and services.”

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Article and Image Source: TechInAsia