Google and Microsoft use language translators to win iOS users

Software versions of Google and Microsoft can catch the attention of Android and Windows users, but on Apple's iOS platform, even major application updates are easy to miss. Whether they are big or small, App Store developers use about 15 words on an iPhone and 30 words on an iPad to describe the new features of an update before the buttons. more "do not hide the details. Because many apps are updated weekly or bi-weekly, users often see long lists of updates, or even nothing, and nothing stands out any more.

In rare cases, an update of an application slips into the update of an application. The question for both developers and journalists is whether people will notice or pay attention. This has happened twice in the past two weeks, as Google and Microsoft have added important machine translation features to applications that IOS users may not have been concerned about before. Their mission is clear: take advantage of the convenience of machine translation to convince users of Apple's stock applications.

Yesterday, Google has updated the iOS version of its Gboard – the Google Keyboard application to include automatic language translation, a change noted by Android users with about two years behind on their flat -form. Gboard now allows users of any iOS app (including popular stock apps such as Messages and Mail) to instantly convert typed sentences or phrases between more than 50 languages ​​supported by Google Translate.

This is a big win for iOS users. Since no iPhone supports the simultaneous display of two applications, users interested in translating what they were typing the other.

Believe it or not, many – perhaps even most – iOS users do not know that Apple's keyboard is actually just another application of stock they can leave, even if Third-party keyboards are an Android feature since their debut. Apple has only added third-party keyboard support with the release of iOS 8 by the end of 2014, and the company still displays a warning dialog box when you try to provide "full access" to a keyboard.

It's easy to trigger iOS users with privacy warnings. Apple has spent years questioning the implications of developer trust in personal information, including explicitly to Google. In recent months, the privacy campaign has shifted to more aggressive sites on YouTube, on the sides of buildings, and on the company's website.

Is there anybody Fortunately change your keyboard after reading iOS, warning that third-party keyboard developers can "transmit everything you type" and "have already typed in", including "sensitive information such as your credit card number or mailing address" ? This may be true, and since users can not see what is actually being passed on to developers, many can avoid third-party keyboards.

On the other hand, Apple has not developed competing services that match the Google offer, which is the case for many Google initiatives based on machine learning. As time passes and Apple's solutions continue to lag behind Google's, iOSOS users are looking at these features and wondering whether they deserve to change platforms … or just apps essential. So, even if alternative keyboards have not really taken off on iOS, such amenities like this make everything easier.

Google is not the only company to use automatic language translation to attract iOS users from Apple's own apps. Less than two weeks ago, Microsoft released an iOS update for its Edge browser that provides instant translation of foreign-language websites visited by the user.

On the information quality scale, the Edge update is even lower than the Gboard update: For years, Microsoft has been combining a Safari language translation plug-in with the iOS Bing application, and the browser Google Chrome iOS already had a one-click translation feature for foreign languages. language sites. In addition, Edge's translator is neither the first nor always the best. When this works, the page is automatically translated, but if it does not, Edge does not even display a button for manual translation.

However, compare Edge's foreign-language experience with Apple's Safari browser and you'll understand why some users may want to move away from Apple's built-in application. Apple does not include any translation options in Safari and, as with third-party keyboards, users may not realize that third-party "action extensions" for Safari are available from iOS 8. There is no specific app store for Safari for iOS. Although the feature is present, it is largely ignored.

Even assuming you want to download Microsoft's Bing software to use the Translation Action for Safari extension, it's at least two more taps each time you want to translate a page. With Edge, frequent second-language readers should not touch anything; everything is treated in the background. The machine learning allows both to discover pages in foreign languages ​​and to translate them into something you can read.

Since neither Edge nor Gboard has been particularly popular on iOS in the past, it's easy to write each of these updates as little news. But the biggest problem is that instant language translation becomes – late – more and more convenient for iOS users, thanks in part to machine learning. If Apple does not create its own solutions, which should be part of its capabilities, it could lose keyboard users and browser share compared to two of its largest and most aggressive competitors.