Report Claims Nuance Is Buying Swype
According to a report from Uncrunched.com, Nuance is planning to acquire Swype. The terms of the deal are still vague, but the report cites a source familiar with the deal as claiming the price tag could be $100 million or more.
If you've used one of today's popular Android smartphones, you're probably familiar with Swype. This popular alternative keyboard lets people enter text much more quickly than they can when using a traditional soft keyboard. Swype expects its keyboard to be preloaded on more than 100 million devices worldwide by the end of this year.
Nuance has its own predictive text application known as T9 which competes with Skype. Perhaps better known for its PC-based voice recognition software, Nuance isn't unfamiliar with the mobile market. In fact, the company launched Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search for iPhone in 2010.
In July, Swype announced that it had raised $2.5 million in series C financing from various investors such as Samsung Ventures, Nokia Growth Partners, Benaroya Capital, Docomo Capital, and Ignition Partners. With this additional financing, Swype had a total of $6 million of series C financing.
