Microsoft acquires Acompli, provider of innovative mobile email apps. Press Release.

Credit gif: Wired.

The tech news site Re/code reports that Microsoft paid over $200 million for the acquisition of Acompli.

Acompli makes an email client for Android and iOS designed to make common but sometimes complex tasks—such sorting messages, sending typical responses, and finding attachments—much easier to accomplish on mobile devices. 

But even though it runs on devices from competing companies—Google and Apple—the app seems like a good fit for Microsoft. 

The product has long been focused on selling software to large companies and it already plugs into Microsoft’s primary email server software, Exchange.

It’s not clear yet whether Acompli will continue as a stand-alone app or be integrated in Microsoft Outlook, but founder Javier Soltero wrote in a blog post that the app will continue to be available on multiple operating systems. 

Microsoft has been working hard to bring its products to other mobile operating systems in recent months. In March—shortly after Satya Nadella stepped into the CEO role—the company unveiled Office for iPad, and just last month, it announced a deal to bring Dropbox file sharing to the Office product line.

Press Release:

I’m pleased to announce that Microsoft has acquired Acompli, provider of innovative mobile email apps for iOS and Android.

This acquisition is part of our company-wide effort to help people accomplish more with their mobile devices. This year we brought Office to the iPad and the iPhone, and we recently announced that we’re bringing Office to Android devices. These are significant steps in our work to deliver the best productivity experiences across mobile platforms, and we’re continuing to push forward.

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. Their app provides innovative ways to focus on what’s important in your inbox, to schedule meetings, and work with attachments and files. Users love how it connects to all email services and provides a single place to manage email with a focus on getting things done. It consistently receives enthusiastic feedback from users and strong app store ratings. Reviews have called it “your new best friend,” “brilliant” and “must have for BYOD.”

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. You can also read a blog post by Acompli CEO Javier Solterohere.

Thanks,
Rajesh

Microsoft via Wired

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