A few years back, no one in the Microsoft ecosystem would have dreamed these will happen. I for one certainly didn’t see it coming. In the last year under CEO Satya Nadella, there have been waves of change at Microsoft. I am loving these!

Last week, Microsoft released a unified mail app for iOS and Android. The apps allow you to connect your Microsoft Exchange Server, Office 365 subscription, and Hotmail (Outlook.com) accounts. Apart from those, the mail app supports Google Gmail, Yahoo mail and Apple iCloud. There is great Calendar, Contacts (People), and Files (Onedrive.com & Dropbox) integration as well. I was pleasantly surprised to see the calendar and contacts integration working for Google Calendar & Google Contacts as well, something which even Google doesn’t do well outside Google Chrome & Android platforms.

From the minute I installed the iPad app I know it will be a huge hit. I love the clean, simple design and especially the crisp font face is awesome. Two reviews in the iTunes app store caught my attention – one said “Wow I can’t believe Microsoft is out-cooling apple…” and other “No mail app on iOS has come close to the new Outlook App”. WOW!

Microsoft Outlook app in iPad

Microsoft Outlook app on iPad

Onedrive file support in Outlook iPad app

Onedrive file support with a built-in preview of MS Office files

I tried the Android version of Microsoft Outlook, and while it’s not as polished as the iOS version, it is much better than earlier released Outlook.com (Hotmail) and the default Gmail app in Android (which doesn’t have unified view of multiple accounts).

Microsoft Outlook app for Android

Microsoft Outlook app for Android

Reading “The Register” article I came to know the App (Microsoft Outlook for iOS and Android) is a re-branded of the Acompli app which has been there for some time. I had missed the news of Microsoft buying Acompli late last year. I don’t care whether Microsoft bought the app or built it, I simply love it!

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