Microsoft launches Outlook app for Android and iOS

Outlook has finally been launched by Microsoft for Android and iOS devices. It is now available for download in their respective app stores.

The new app will replace all previous android and iOS apps and a rather limited Outlook Web App that was available to paying Office 365 users. Microsoft plans to combine the experiences of their apps over time and suggests its users to update to the latest version of their app.

The technology behind the new application is same as that which was used in the email app Acompli which was bought by Microsoft for $200 million last year. As said by Microsoft's general manager of its Office division Julia White, in an interview. She also said,"We brought that team in and its now a core part of our Outlook team.

The looks and feels of Outlook apps is quite like the original Acompli apps. Microsoft adds some office app like touches. But if you've used Acompli's app, you'll feel the same experience.

What comes as a surprise is the fact that Microsoft re launched the apps this quickly. It really speaks how well Acompli apps were.

In an interview, white said that Outlook apps aren't just meant for email triage and that they live up to the Outlook promise. She also said, "The outlook userbase will certainly be excited about this." White further mentioned that the email clients that shipped with most mobile devices are basic and that people want to do more with them then just email triage.

Outlook will support Office 365, Exchange, Outlook.com, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail as well as most other email providers just like Acompli did. Outlook also supports to send attachments through many cloud services including Microsoft’s own OneDrive, including Dropbox and others. Just as most modern email apps supports various swipe gestures, they are now implemented in Outlook too and are customized to your needs.

Microsoft's launch is considered as the full release of the iOS version. The Android version is officially in preview because of the reason that Android has a broad hardware ecosystem. Pretty soon Microsoft, as it will gather a bit more infromation about how the apps run on more real world devices ,will announce Outlook's availability on Android too.