In a post on the Office Blogs website, Javier Soltero, former Acompli CEO and current corporate vice president of Outlook at Microsoft, detailed the overhauled designs that emphasize improved visual flourishes as well as more emphasis on calendar items.
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Between the mobile startups that Microsoft acquired and its existing engineers, Soltero says he supervises thousands of people working on Outlook.
The influence of the Sunrise team on Outlook is already clear – the news of Sunrise’s imminent demise was delivered alongside a refresh of Outlook’s iOS and Android apps, including updated in-app calendars.
As the entire team is completely focused on the Outlook for iOS and Android apps, we won’t be updating the Sunrise apps anymore.
Soltero also talked about the relationship with Sunrise and what the Sunrise team brings to the table.
A new Outlook app for iOS with an improved design and calendar is the first demonstration of their newly joined effort, with an updated Android app scheduled for release in November and a new Windows app to follow. Thanks to the Sunrise collaboration, the calendar is also getting a facelift with fit-and- finish changes like showing the day’s date in its icon, and better displaying multiple calendar events at the same time.
On Android, Outlook is adding images for contacts within the inbox, more prominent icons to denote read vs. unread emails and a revamped Calendar.
However, the rise of mobile actually pushes more people into giving Outlook a try, he says, because most people don’t want to carry around two phones or even use two different email apps. For example, the message list now clearly calls out invitations so you won’t miss them. It has nearly 30 million users on smartphones and tablets, who use the app for 1.2 billion sessions a month, each 22 seconds long on average. Additionally, around 20 percent of those people have more than one account linked to Outlook, which is a sign that they may be relying on it for both work and personal email. Soltero explained that despite the persistent claims that email is passé or a dying medium for communication, the reality is that it’s part of the fabric of the Internet and it’s here to stay for the foreseeable future.
Microsoft’s mission is to make email awesome.
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Though not totally surprising – Microsoft discontinued Acompli when it launched the new Outlook app at the beginning of the year – the move will likely be disappointing to many Sunrise fans. Check out the new app and let me know if you decide to make it your default mobile email app as well.
