Turkish developer’s keyboard among best new apps in App Store

Elif Ergu – ISTANBUL

A keyboard application developed by a Turkish programmer living in New York has been listed among the best new apps in Apple’s App Store.

Cem Kozinoğlu, originally from the Turkish capital Ankara, developed an unconventional keyboard called the “Slash Keyboard,” which acts as both a search engine and a multifaceted sharing tool.

Slash Keyboard enables the user to share songs, stickers, GIFs, news, locations and venue suggestions over the keyboard without leaving the current application. The app also quickly shows results from over 20 services including Google, Foursquare, Spotify, Amazon, The New York Times and Wikipedia.

The idea to develop Slash Keyboard only emerged last year, according to Kozinoğlu, but it ranked among the best new apps on its first day on the store. It has so far been downloaded 150,000 times in the App Store. 

Slash Keyboard has also been hailed as the best new keyboard application by Mashable, Wired and Business Insider.

Kozinoğlu had previously developed turkvista.com, known as the first domestic search engine in Turkey, when he was just 13. He also developed an earthquake-warning app called “Deprem App,” and an app called the “Çapulcu Tencere,” which enabled users to virtually bang pots and pans – a style of protest that became a phenomenon during Turkey’s anti-government protests in summer 2013.