Microsoft virtual keyboard goes cross-platform with iOS and Android versions

Smartphone users can now download a whole range of Microsoft applications for Android and iOS. ©LDprod / shutterstock.com

Microsoft is bringing another formerly exclusive feature of Windows smartphones first of all to iOS then to Android. This time it's the Word Flow virtual keyboard, which sees mobile users write words by dragging a finger continuously across the keyboard. 

With sales of its own Lumia smartphones struggling, Microsoft is keen to share some of its platform's choice innovations – like Cortana, Office and now the Word Flow keyboard – with users of other mobile operating systems.