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Monday, May 17, 2021
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Microsoft Buys Acompli Email App

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microsoft buys acompli
Microsoft has announced on Monday that it will purchase the email startup app called Acompli. The news is not a big surprise because it was already announced on other tech blogs before Microsoft’s official statement, but since Microsoft confirmed, it means it’s true. The news confirms once again that Microsoft is pretty serious in showing its support for mobile operating systems, others than its own.

Microsoft will supposedly buy the Acompli email app for more than $200 million. Acompli email app is an Android and iOS email client and received praises for being a very efficient way to connect with the Microsoft’s and Google’s mail services.

Zimbra and VMware people claim that people check their emails on their phone a lot but do not take much action.
Rajesh Jha, Microsoft Vice President said in an official statement about the purchase of the Acompli email app that:

“In a world where more than half of email messages are first read on a mobile device, it’s essential to give people fantastic email experiences wherever they go. The Acompli team is passionate about this quest.”

Jha also said that Microsoft will combine the features of Acompli email app with other mobile efforts built by the Outlook team.
Microsoft VP said that the new app will focus on important email features:

“Acompli app provides innovative ways to focus on what’s important in your inbox, to schedule meetings, and work with attachments and files.”

Javier Soltero from Acompli wrote on his blog that their new app

“will become part of Microsoft’s ambitious effort to re-imagine productivity for the mobile era.”

Soltero added that:

“18 months ago we started building a team and a product around the idea that we could make mobile email better. Today that journey continues as part of a larger organization with the technology, talent, and market reach that will help us take the vision of Acompli to hundreds of millions of mobile users across the world.”

Microsoft and Acompli email app are hoping to make a great team together and really improve the way email apps function at the moment.

Microsoft Lumia 535 Revealed, Available Today

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microsoft lumia 535
Back in April, Microsoft purchased Nokia’s phone business for approximately $7 billion. The deal allows the division to continue to make phones that still keep the Lumia name attached to them. This is the case of the new Microsoft Lumia 535, the first smartphone to be released on the market after the Microsoft-Nokia deal. The deal also allows Microsoft to keep using the Nokia name on some of the newest phones, but only for a brief period of time.

The latest Microsoft Lumia 535 runs on Windows Phone 8.1 mobile operating system, which is Microsoft’s latest version. Although the Microsoft Lumia 535 has the same OS as the previous Lumia 530, the 535 is meant for the lower end of the phone market.

The Microsoft Lumia 535 comes with a quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor and a 5 inch 960 x 540 pixel display. Like the previous Lumia smartphone, the new Lumia 535 has a back made of plastic, clean lines and rounded corners. The 535 is bigger and slimmer than its predecessor.

Even though the latest Lumia handset is not exactly a revolutionary smartphone, it still stands as a new chapter for Lumia phones, which have had quite a troubled existence recently. The Lumia phones were known for their bright colors and powerful cameras, but they still don’t sell very well on the market. The new Microsoft branding could lead to a rebirth for the Lumia smrtphones.

Also, Microsoft’s Windows Phone could use a fresh start as well. The mobile OS has not been so popular with consumers as of late, reaching only 2.5% of the world’s mobile market. In comparison, Android OS by Google is on almost 85% of smart mobile devices everywhere.

Specifications wise, Microsoft Lumia 535 features a 5 MP front camera, a 5 MP back camera, a 5 inch display, a built-in software suite for OneNote and Skype, included with the Windows Phone OS.
The new Microsoft Lumia 535 will be shipped in two editions: a 3 G single SIM and a 3 G Smart Dual SIM. Both versions will run on Windows Phone 8.1 and both versions will be updated with the Lumia Denim Update.

Microsoft Offers Free Office Apps to iPhones and iPads

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Free Office Apps iphone ipad
Microsoft had to change its management in order to catch up with the mobile device era. They’ve just announced that they will give away for free their Office apps to iPhones and iPads. The free Office apps include Word, Excel and PowerPoint. This comes as a very pleasant surprise because previously, if one wanted to enjoy the full features of the Office apps had to pay $119 per year or $12 a month, for Australian users. The users had to install the cloud-delivered Office 365. The free Office apps will be available for Android devices early next year.

Microsoft’s free Office apps require a Microsoft account in order to be able to use them. If you don’t have a Microsoft account and you want to create one, you need to have a valid email address and a password, and to type in those annoying CAPTCHA letters and numbers.

After signing in you can enjoy the free Office apps and all its features. The free versions of Office apps do not have all the features that the Office 365 have, like being able to switch between landscapes and portrait views, but most features are the same.

Microsoft announced another good deal last week: the deal with Dropbox that allows its users to store their files in Dropbox right from their Office apps. The Microsoft-Dropbox deal might sound a tad strange, considering the fact that Microsoft’s cloud storage OneDrive is Dropbox’s competitor, but they most certainly know what they are doing.
The user who pay for Office 365 receive a terabyte of OneDrive storage for free, while users of the new free Office apps for iPad and iPhone will get only 15 gigabytes, plus 2GB from Dropbox.

The new initiative of offering free Office apps belongs to Microsoft’s new boss Satya Nadella, who replaced Steve Ballmer in February. Before Nadella there weren’t any free software coming from Microsoft. But with the rise of the smartphones, the tech world has changed dramatically in the last few years so tech companies better adapt or move away. The new Microsoft president seems to be aware of this so that’s why he’s giving free Office apps.

Microsoft Wearable Device to Launch within Weeks

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Microsoft Wearable Device

A little while back we gave you a first look at the Apple Watch, a smartwatch that Apple that was released during the September 9 Media Event, along with the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Today we’ve learnt that Microsoft will release their first wearable device within a few weeks, according to Forbes. Let’s take a look at what we know so far about the Microsoft wearable device.

Microsoft Wearable Device

People have been saying how Apple was the last tech company to jump on the wearable device bandwagon, by many forget that Microsoft has yet to release a wearable device. The good news that has popped up online today through Forbes is that Microsoft is preparing to launch its first wearable device within a few weeks.

The gadget is supposedly a smartwatch that will give its user information about the heart rate among other health-related data and send it to the wearer’s mobile device. The smartwatch is thought to be a cross platform device, which means that it’s going to be Android and iOS compatible. The sources say that the device will also boast a two-day battery life, which is twice as much as any smartwatch available on the market.

The longer battery life could give Microsoft the upper hand it definitely needs in the wearables market. The Samsung Galaxy Gear, the Apple Watch and the Moto 360 all need to be charged daily.

Analysts are predicting that the new Microsoft wearable device is going to cause quite a stir, as right now the market is not yet saturated with such devices. There is room for everyone to put out a smartwatch, especially one with a longer battery life.

Forbes was the ones to report, back in May, that Microsoft was working on a cross-platform wearable device, so you might want to keep an eye on them.

It is not yet known what the price of the Microsoft wearable device is going to be or how it is going to look like. We are going to keep you informed about the new Microsoft wearable device as soon as information becomes available.

Microsoft Bought Nokia Devices And Services, The Deal Closes Friday

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microsoft bought nokiaMicrosoft has been planning for several months the acquisition of Nokia Devices and Services that will cost them $7,2 billion. Microsoft also announced that their new deal will be closed on Friday. Brad Smith, executive vice president of the company has said in a blog post regarding the fact that Microsoft bought Nokia Devices and Services that: “The completion of this acquisition follows several months of planning and will mark a key step on the journey towards integration. This acquisition will help Microsoft accelerate innovation and market adoption for Windows Phones.”

We think that Microsoft will have plenty of room to increase because the global market share of their Windows Phone stands is at 3.9% momentarily, according to the IDC research company. IDC also predicts that this percentage will go up and reach 7% by year 2018. It appears that the news is not that good for the world leading operating systems, Android and iOS because their figures are expected to decline from 78,9% to 76% for Android and 14,9% to 14,4 % for IOS.

Microsoft wants to call the new subsidiary Microsoft Mobile and Smith said that the plan is to manage the site Nokia.com and other related social media platforms for a year. He also stated that Microsoft will have 21 new employees in China (who were meant to remain with Nokia Chief Technology Office). Smith said that Microsoft will not buy the South Korean Nokia manufacturing facility, even though they were planning to, originally.

A week ago, Microsoft released the Windows Phone 8.1 as their latest operating system for smart mobile devices. This meant the introduction of new features that will compete with the popular Android and IOS systems. The features are: Cortana – which is Microsoft’s answer to the Siri personal assistant from Apple. Other features are a notification system called Action Center and improved battery and browsing capacities.

The fact that Microsoft bought Nokia Devices and Services means that they will have complete control over the mobile hardware.

Microsoft bought Nokia Devices and Services – what does it mean for Nokia?

We look forward to see how this acquisition will be completed on April 25 and what will be made of it. As soon as we’ll have any updates we will keep you posted. What are your thoughts on the fact that Microsoft bought Nokia Devices and Services? Do you think that this for the best on both parts or does it stand for the inevitable death of Nokia? Share your thoughts in the comment below.

 

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