By: iPadfanzz staff on February 19, 2013
Microsoft has made it official that it is winding down its venerable Hotmail. Instead it announced that the company’s new twist of email, Outlook.com, is coming out of preview mode and is now officially available worldwide. It said the process has begun to start moving more than 300 million Hotmail users to Outlook.com. The company especially mentioned that the users will be able to keep their Hotmail.com e-mail addresses — or Live.com or MSN.com, but the Hotmail service and brand is going away.
Microsoft has the process of transferring Hotmail users to Outlook.com will be gradual and the faithful Hotmail users will keep on getting e-mails and other alerts asking them to switch over. It said the decision to switch over depends on them. The company believes that it should be a good thing for most of the people.
What’s so unusual about Outlook.com is its uncluttered interface which is far better than Hotmail. The mail organization tools are simpler and have an interface that resembles the Windows 8 which was formerly known as Metro. In order to garner maximum attention from users, Microsoft has loaded with lots in interesting features. Outlook.com connects tightly with social networks, integrates with Microsoft’s SkyDrive storage service, and offers a set of tools to fight inbox clutter.
Microsoft has introduced some really interesting features in Outlook.com that include the ability to send massive files, including hundred of photos at a time, in a single eamila; address books that automatically update new contact information that connections post on their social media account like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn; and will have 60 per cent lesser ads than Hotmail. However, not one can call them as revolutionary, as Google has started giving the option to users to switch to a new version of Gmail that also offers the option of sending large files in a single email. Also one need to remember that address book in Gmail fetches new contact information based on updates made on Google Plus. So it would be welcome move for users who want something new and interesting – all in one package.
With the new Outlook.com the company is looking to make use of the change of showcasing the outside world about its Microsoft’s consumer email service which is designed to work closely with modern world of tablets and smartphones.
Now it comes to usage. One good thing about Outlook is that it offers lots of screen space in terms of composing message as compared to Gmail. Outlook shows tabs on the top, ads on the right side, and chat/gadgets panel on the left hand corner of a page. In terms of composing a message, it easier in Outlook as compared to Gmail: you enter the recipient’s address in the lef pane, and subject line a large text at the top of the window, and the actual message at the straightforward formatting toolbar.
Microsoft said the new version has already garnered nearly 60 million users during its six-month preview, which makes it the fastest growing email services in the market, Nearly 1/3 of its active users during the preview were active Gmail users.
However, to Microsoft’s surprise, the users of Gmail, the closest competitor of Outlook, grew from 252 million unique visitors in December 2011 to 306 million in December 2012, which is a rise of 21 per cent and puts Google ahead of Microsoft’s combined share for Outlook.com and Hotmail for the same month.
However, it must be said it is a competitive market and aggressive marketing could easily turn into big results. And this time the Redmond-based company doesn’t want to leave any chance for the future. Although webmail services are largely free, they’re important to the companies as gateways to related services and advertising revenue.
In order to promote Outlook.com the company is looking spend big time on advertising campaigns telling about the good users of Outlook.com. The Outlook ads will overlap with comprise of anti-Gmail marketing campaign launched earlier this month. The Gmail ads are meant to be educational while the Outlook campaign is motivational, said Dharmesh Mehta, Outlook.com's senior director.
Microsoft has made it official that it is winding down its venerable Hotmail. Instead it announced that the company’s new twist of email, Outlook.com, is coming out of preview mode and is now officially available worldwide. It said the process has begun to start moving more than 300 million Hotmail users to Outlook.com. The company especially mentioned that the users will be able to keep their Hotmail.com e-mail addresses — or Live.com or MSN.com, but the Hotmail service and brand is going away.
Microsoft has the process of transferring Hotmail users to Outlook.com will be gradual and the faithful Hotmail users will keep on getting e-mails and other alerts asking them to switch over. It said the decision to switch over depends on them. The company believes that it should be a good thing for most of the people.
What’s so unusual about Outlook.com is its uncluttered interface which is far better than Hotmail. The mail organization tools are simpler and have an interface that resembles the Windows 8 which was formerly known as Metro. In order to garner maximum attention from users, Microsoft has loaded with lots in interesting features. Outlook.com connects tightly with social networks, integrates with Microsoft’s SkyDrive storage service, and offers a set of tools to fight inbox clutter.
Microsoft has introduced some really interesting features in Outlook.com that include the ability to send massive files, including hundred of photos at a time, in a single eamila; address books that automatically update new contact information that connections post on their social media account like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn; and will have 60 per cent lesser ads than Hotmail. However, not one can call them as revolutionary, as Google has started giving the option to users to switch to a new version of Gmail that also offers the option of sending large files in a single email. Also one need to remember that address book in Gmail fetches new contact information based on updates made on Google Plus. So it would be welcome move for users who want something new and interesting – all in one package.
With the new Outlook.com the company is looking to make use of the change of showcasing the outside world about its Microsoft’s consumer email service which is designed to work closely with modern world of tablets and smartphones.
Now it comes to usage. One good thing about Outlook is that it offers lots of screen space in terms of composing message as compared to Gmail. Outlook shows tabs on the top, ads on the right side, and chat/gadgets panel on the left hand corner of a page. In terms of composing a message, it easier in Outlook as compared to Gmail: you enter the recipient’s address in the lef pane, and subject line a large text at the top of the window, and the actual message at the straightforward formatting toolbar.
Microsoft said the new version has already garnered nearly 60 million users during its six-month preview, which makes it the fastest growing email services in the market, Nearly 1/3 of its active users during the preview were active Gmail users.
However, to Microsoft’s surprise, the users of Gmail, the closest competitor of Outlook, grew from 252 million unique visitors in December 2011 to 306 million in December 2012, which is a rise of 21 per cent and puts Google ahead of Microsoft’s combined share for Outlook.com and Hotmail for the same month.
However, it must be said it is a competitive market and aggressive marketing could easily turn into big results. And this time the Redmond-based company doesn’t want to leave any chance for the future. Although webmail services are largely free, they’re important to the companies as gateways to related services and advertising revenue.
In order to promote Outlook.com the company is looking spend big time on advertising campaigns telling about the good users of Outlook.com. The Outlook ads will overlap with comprise of anti-Gmail marketing campaign launched earlier this month. The Gmail ads are meant to be educational while the Outlook campaign is motivational, said Dharmesh Mehta, Outlook.com's senior director.
