The release this week of Microsoft’s first truly native Outlook app for Android and iOS has earned the company accolades and could be a sign its mobile strategy is finally getting on track.
“Microsoft is absolutely doing the right thing putting these important and popular applications on Android and iOS,” said IDC analyst Al Hilwa. “An increasing number of users of these products already use multiple devices, and it is valuable for them to be able to move across platforms with the same tools.”
The new app, released for iOS and in preview mode for Android, is technologically and stylistically different from Outlook.com, Microsoft’s mobile front-end for its Web-based email service. It’s also very different from the Outlook Web App, with which users of Exchange and Office 365 access their business accounts.
It’s not an original Microsoft product, having been acquired last December in the buyout of mobile developer Accompli. As such, it doesn’t yet support all the features of Outlook for Windows. In a statement, Microsoft acknowledged that both versions of the app currently lack the full range of support for Exchange ActiveSync administrative tools, particularly the ability to remote-wipe an entire phone if it’s lost or stolen (for now, it supports remote-wipe of email accounts and their stored attachments).
But the software is drawing praise nonetheless, helping transform the perception of Microsoft as an also-ran in mobile technology.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment