For a company whose popularity mainly came from word of mouth, the commercial shows that it’s ready to mature into something much more than just a virtual keyboard. To show it’s pulling out all the stops for this release, SwiftKey also commissioned British actor, comedian, and vocal Apple fan Stephen Fry for its first iOS 8 commercial. The London- and San Francisco-based company has raised more than $21 million from investors including Index Ventures and Accel Partners. The new app follows a major shift away from charging for its Android app back in July - now SwiftKey’s Android app is free (and buoyed by in-app purchases). SwiftKey’s iOS 8 app should be available by the time iOS 8 launches on September 17, and it will also support the iPod Touch and iPad in addition to the iPhone.

For example, at WWDC earlier this year, Apple showed off SwiftKey competitor Swype, whose virtual keyboard allows you to swipe your fingers across letters, instead of just hunting and pecking. I miss that too, but double space for period and and the slide and release from the numbers key in the bottom left are pretty convenient.

So if you’ve hated Apple’s virtual keyboard (and I know there are plenty of you out there), you’ll soon have a wide variety of alternatives. Or hold the 123 key and tap the comma with another finger. With iOS 8, Apple is finally opening up to third-party keyboards, something Android has supported for years.

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