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Bobble AI partners with Xiaomi to develop ‘Mint Keyboard’ for Android smartphones
MUMBAI: Bobble AI, a Gurgaon-based tech company today announced that it has partnered with Xiaomi, India’s number one smartphone and smart TV brand to develop ‘Mint Keyboard’ for Android smartphones. Bobble AI is empowering the Next Billion by making their communication personalised, expressive, and smarter with its cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence around input methods. Taking a leap in terms of technology and innovation, Bobble AI has developed an Indian language keyboard called ‘Mint Keyboard’ which will be pre-loaded across Xiaomi devices in India and Indonesia. The new feature will be a part of Xiaomi’s latest MIUI 11 Operating System.
Mint keyboard is a ‘Made in India’ application which is specially designed keeping Indian users in mind, with their need for local languages and personalisation to enrich conversations. The AI engine is continuously learning user typing habits in real time to suggest absolutely personalised responses whether it is in a regional language, slang, shortcuts, or emoji preferences. With the availability of 25+ Indic languages on the Mint Keyboard, users can type in their preferred language. Not only this, but the users can also go to the extent of applying personalized themes on their keyboards using images from their gallery and using different fonts while typing.
Additionally, it has features like Swipe typing, speech-to-text, real-time emoji suggestions, different themes every week, cloud-sync and clipboard. With a rich database of stickers and GIFs to express every emotion or mood, users can share stickers directly from the keyboard to make conversations even more expressive and fun.
The keyboard is also available for non MIUI devices and can be downloaded from the Google Play store.
On IME and partnering with Xiaomi, Bobble AI CEO and founder Ankit Prasad said, “The Input Method Editor (IME) software industry, considering only keyboard and voice inputs, is growing at a CAGR of 17.2% and is expected to reach 40 Billion USD by 2025. Our main focus is to partner with leading smartphone players to co-create solutions for the Next Billion. Partnership with Xiaomi is a huge validation of our capabilities and shift in need of new-age technologies and business opportunities.”
Xiaomi India chief operations officer Muralikrishnan B said, “We have always provided the highest quality and customised solutions to our Mi fans in India and therefore for the first time anywhere in the world, we are launching Mint Keyboard. India provides one of the most diverse cultures with several thousands of languages and dialects being spoken. Mint Keyboard, supporting 25+ Indic languages and with the ability to transliterate across all of them is just the first step in Xiaomi truly developing services for India. ”
Bobble AI is backed by some of the most celebrated names in the Indian startup ecosystem. Apart from SAIF Partners and Xiaomi Inc. others include co-founders of Flipkart, founder of MakeMyTrip, Co-founder of SlideShare, Founders of 1mg, Co-creator of Cassandra, and 15 other individual investors.
Following the B2B2C model, Bobble has partnered with the homegrown operating system Indus and many more in the past.
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Reserve Bank of India cancels Paytm Payments Bank licence
Central bank cites compliance failures; curbs tighten as wind-up looms
MUMBAI: India’s banking watchdog delivered its sharpest blow yet to Paytm Payments Bank, cancelling its licence and effectively ending its ability to operate as a bank under the law.
The Reserve Bank of India said the entity can no longer conduct banking business under the Banking Regulation Act, citing concerns that its affairs were not being run in the interest of depositors or the public and that it had failed to meet licence conditions.
The move escalates a crackdown that has been building for months. The bank had already been barred from onboarding new customers since March 11, 2022, and later faced restrictions on deposits, credit and wallet top-ups. In January 2024, the central bank ordered it to stop accepting fresh deposits, pointing to persistent non-compliance, including lapses in customer due diligence, use of funds and technology systems.
Operationally, the bank is now on a tight leash. It may process withdrawals of existing deposits and facilitate loan referrals through banking correspondents, but it cannot take fresh deposits.
The central bank said it would apply to the high court to wind up the bank.
Paytm sought to ringfence the fallout. In a regulatory filing, it said the licence cancellation applies to Paytm Payments Bank Limited, a separate entity, and should not be attributed to One 97 Communications. It added that there is no exposure or material business arrangement with the bank and that it operates independently, without Paytm’s board or management involvement.
“As informed earlier, Paytm (One 97 Communications Limited) and its services, which have been operating without interruption, will continue to operate uninterrupted. These include the Paytm app, Paytm UPI, Paytm Gold and all other services offered by its subsidiaries and associated companies,” the company said.
The distinction may reassure users of the app ecosystem, but the regulator’s verdict is unequivocal. After years of warnings, caps and curbs, the payments bank experiment at Paytm is being shut down—decisively, and with little room left to manoeuvre.
