Google working on a keyboard for iOS devices: Report

Google is said to have been developing a keyboard for the iPhone and has been doing so for “months”. The Google keyboard for iOS has allegedly been in testing with Google HQ employees for months. However, there is no information provided as to when the company will release it. The keyboard is specially designed to boost the number of Google searches on iOS. According to a report by The Verge, the Google keyboard incorporates a number of features meant to distinguish it from the stock iOS keyboard. The keyboard is also said to be gesture-based, more like SwiftKey and Swipe which are already available for iOS. In terms of features, one can tap the Google logo and access traditional web search. Also, it appears to have distinct buttons for pictures and GIF searches. The report points out that the keyboard is visually distinct from the standard Android keyboard, which incorporates voice search but no text or image-based searching. Replacing the default keyboard on iOS devices would enable Google to keep its search engine front and centre, which looks like key motivation. Recently, scientists have also developed smart glasses with stereo-vision that allow users to text a message or type in key words for internet surfing by offering a virtual keyboard for text and even one for a piano.