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Hi. I'm Rafe Needlemen, with CNET New.com webware, and I'm here Cliff Kushler of Swype, who has developed a new input methodology for mobile phones and tablets?
>> Anything with a touch screen. Anything with a screen.
>> Anything with a touch screen. Tell us about what you got.
>> So the basic idea is instead of having to tap each individual letter precisely, you trace a very approximate connect the dots path through the letters of the word, and it figures out the word. So if I'm gonna do something simple, "This is how simple text input could be."
>> That's, like, freaking me out, man.
>> You can make mistakes. You can misspell words. You can do lots of things that enables you to do it very quickly. You don't have to be precise. And that's where the speed comes from.
>> You've got this working on tablet PCs. You also have it working on mobile devices?
>> Yes, on Windows mobile devices at this point, and we're creating an SDK and porting through other platforms as we speak.
>> Okay. Now, you have experience in this market, correct?
>> Yes. I was one of the original inventors of T9, which ended up being installed on about two and half billion phones.
>> Now, there are SMS junkies, kids, who can type like 50 words a minute, 80 words a minute on T9. How fast can people go, you think, on this new technology?
>> You know, that remains to be seen. I'm a 55-year old guy. I am not fast. But I can do about 50 words a minute using Swype.
>> So where and when can we expect to see this technology?
>> Everywhere and anywhere. When is up to the OEMs and the carriers and so forth. But we see the application of this technology on any screen. Obviously it works on a touch screen, on a tablet, on a phone like the iPhone or whatever. Imagine a TV screen. Imagine a smart appliance. Imagine a GPS system. They all need text input. And it should be standardized. You shouldn't have to learn a different text input method for every different device that you go to.
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