In the modern worlds of touch screens, Swype Inc.‘s innovative software provides a faster and easier way to interact with virtual keyboards. As the company describes its product, “… With one continuous finger or stylus motion across the screen keyboard, the patented technology enables users to input words faster and easier than other data input methods—at over 40 words per minute. The application is designed to work across a variety of devices such as phones, tablets, game consoles, kiosks, televisions, virtual screens and more…”
Up to now, the application has been made available as a Beta product and, consequently, it is an evolving project. It is attractive enough, however, that a significant portion of the Android development community has created modifications and alternative “skins” for various Android cell phones and tablets.
Trying to balance the protection of their intellectual property and encouraging the developer fan base, the company has come out with a statement they hope will set the ground rules. Phandroid reported today about Swype’s posting of these rules.
Swype was initially available only to those who managed to “luck into” a fairly restricted beta. Since last month, it is open, at least for the moment, to anyone who registers and happens to have a compatible phone, as Lifehacker reports. While the release of software products at the Beta stage is fairly common, typically this is seen as restricted market testing or, more often, among Open Source products. What is more unique in this situation is the release of a Beta for a Patent-protected technology, in what amounts to a royalty-free, time-limited license. Hardware manufacturers, on the other hand, must follow different (more traditional) licensing models to include the software in their products.
This is a noteworthy experiment in adapting patent licensing business models to the age of non-scarcity pricing and open-source collaboration, and it is a promising and welcome development in the software industry. It’s a nifty application to boot!