![]() ![]() Kushler's path to improving typing on phones was preceded by work on helping the disabled communicate. McSherry worked on Swype for six months without a contract - "not even a verbal statement of exactly what the understanding was," Kushler said - but trusted that he'd get a fair deal. "I just saw sort of a kindred spirit in Mike." "I wanted somebody with experience in the mobile field, but a lot of it was just a person-to-person connection," Kushler said. McSherry was weary of having to negotiate deals with cell phone manufacturers, Kushler said. "He has incredible business ethics."Ĭonvincing McSherry, a co-founder of cellular carrier startups Boost Mobile and Amped Mobile, to join Swype was tough. "Everybody loves and respects and follows Cliff," Swype CEO McSherry said in a recent interview. Sitting with perfect posture, attained through yoga and martial arts training in his youth, he took infrequent sips of tea and bites of rice with chopsticks wielded expertly.įriends describe him as humble, mystic, honorable and brilliant. On one of his semiregular trips to San Francisco, Kushler met a CNN reporter for lunch. I don't want to say I'm channeling somebody or something, but I think opens you up to a higher level of intuition." "I don't think everything that's come out of me is something this little brain has generated. "I think ideas flow from - I don't know - different places," he added. "My wife and I are very serious about it." ![]() "I've delved into different kinds of spiritual pursuits on and off for decades," Kushler said. He almost always finds time for the daily ritual, though he still hasn't made time to chat with dolphins. He speaks slowly and carefully.Ī resident of Ananda Village, a small commune at the foothills of the Sierras near Nevada City, California, Kushler and his wife meditate for about an hour every morning. Kushler resembles a sage, with white hair, a more-salt-than-pepper beard and a warm smile. "I want Swype to be everywhere," he said. Swype CEO Mike McSherry is more blunt about his goals. "It has the potential of moving the needle a little bit on how people use their phones," Kushler said of his invention, with a healthy dose of his legendary modesty. Cliff Kushler, inventor of Swype softwareīut in August, Page's short-lived record was broken by UK resident Melissa Thompson. It has the potential of moving the needle a little bit on how people use their phones. In the commercial, Franklin Page breaks the Guinness world record for text-messaging speed using Swype on a Samsung phone. To illustrate what a leap forward this concept is, Samsung Electronics enlisted the help of a young office administrator at Swype's Seattle headquarters to demonstrate the technology on camera. Even the most adept BlackBerry typists can't compete with Swype's efficiency. With phones' small screens, typing can be a chore. Gadget enthusiasts consistently rate it highly, and buzz continues to build. In that short period, it's netted more than 500,000 downloads in addition to the 20 million devices it comes installed on.Īsk anyone who's spent time using Swype, and odds are they'll sing its praises. The app isn't offered yet in the online Android Market, but the company is taking requests for those who want access to a beta version. Nokia Growth Partners, the venture arm of the world's top phone maker, invested in Swype last year, and the product is available on Nokia's flagship N8 smartphone. ![]() Users don't have to lift a finger from the screen to type a word or worry if their aim is a little shaky, because Swype's software can smartly and accurately figure out what they meant to say.ĭozens of smartphones running Google's popular Android operating system come with Swype installed, and Swype recently began letting anyone with a newer Android phone download the application for free. Swype's technology lets users of touch-screen keyboards type - if you can call it that - by using their fingers to connect the dots between letters in a word. Now Kushler, 58, is rethinking the keyboard again with Swype. And before that, he developed a once dominant language input gizmo for the disabled. In the 1990s, Kushler invented a cell phone technology called T9, which helped launch the text messaging phenomenon. San Francisco (CNN) - Cliff Kushler wants to talk to dolphins.īut in the meantime, he'll settle for helping humans communicate better. ![]()
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