In a blog post early this morning, Microsoft officially announced the acquisition of Acompli, developers of email client app for iOS and Android. The acquisition price was over $200 million, according to Re/code.
Acompli Email is well regarded for its vast array of features including Microsoft Exchange support, easy navigation to access recent emails and contacts, and ease of use with attachments and files.
The acquisition is a step forward for Microsoft's push on mobile productivity, including bringing Office to iOS earlier in the year. The company has kept a steady stream of updates flowing to the iOS versions of Office as well, including adding printing capabilities, third-party fonts, and, most recently, optimized iPhone versions of Word, Excel, and Powerpoint for smaller screens. Acompli is now the newest addition to Microsoft's vast array of productivity-based offerings.
We’re excited about what’s possible as we build on the app’s success and bring it together with work currently in progress by the Outlook team. Our goal is to deliver fantastic cross-platform apps that support the variety of email services people use today and help them accomplish more.
This acquisition brings us an app with innovative technology and a set of talented people who are passionate about reinventing email and communications on mobile screens. It will expedite our work to deliver the full power of Office to mobile devices. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.
The absence of a proper Outlook app for iOS has forced many users to flock to third-party apps whose lack of certain features, particularly Exchange support, prove insufficient. Though there's no official word yet on what the company plans to do with Acompli beyond bolstering the Outlook effort, it's easy to see where it could fit in their mobile productivity suite of apps.
Acompli Email remains available on the App Store for free for the time being [Direct Link]
Top Rated Comments
Is this just irrational MS hate? Microsoft has been on a roll lately with their offerings. Since Balmer left, they seem to be embracing a cross-platform mentality. Anything that works better with all my kit can only be seen as a positive for me and others who are ecosystem agnostic.
People fear what they dont understand.
I was the same until I was forced to use M$ at work, it made me realise that although I still think Windows is horrid, at the same time its actually very good.
XP, (a couple of service packs later), was a solid release.
Seven is better still and Ive just bought 8.1 for £84 which will go on a different drive for gaming, (as Macs are still crap for games).
Im told its their best yet - this is from those that have used it, (without touch), not from those ********s that sit on forums or tech blogs.
You have **got** to be joking. Microsoft is back on the rise and is one of the few consumer tech companies who "get it". OneDrive is arguably not only the best deal in cloud storage, but also the best designed, intuitive and cross platform focused solution out there.
Also Office on iOS or OS X totally blows Apple's office suite out of the water.
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100% agree. Microsoft's push into a cross platform mentality is going to pay off huge dividends for them in the future. Apple builds much better hardware, but their software (cloud, office suits, hell even calendaring, etc) is pathetic.
I think you misunderstand how it actually works, they pull mail through their servers so therefore they can push email to you easily.
I understand that making an email app is not an impossible job. With conglomerates paying prices like these there is no reason any more to be a doctor or a lawyer. Spend 10 years developing different apps, sell whatever you can . You will make enough money that will make your grandchildren live a good life.