Microsoft is transporting all of its Hotmail users to Outlook.com. The Associated Press reported that Microsoft is about to spend at least $30 million to do so. Microsoft Hotmail and other email services that operate under different domain names including MSN.com will all be automatically converted to Outlook.com by this summer.
If users don't switch themselves, it will happen automatically and all their info will be exported to Outlook.
""Email remains a key battleground, even at a time when more people are texting each other on phones.
People still regularly check their inboxes, albeit increasingly on their smartphones. The recurring email habit provides Internet companies a way to keep people coming back to websites. It gives people a reason to log in during their visits so it's easier for email providers to track their activities. Frequent visits and personal identification are two of the keys to selling ads, the main way most websites make money.," reported the AP.
Because of the new Outlook the company is making a huge marketing push. Outlook will be running in ads on tv, radio and the web as well as buses and billboards and the company plans to spend 30 to $90 million on marketing for Outlook.
Microsoft launched an anti-gmail campaign earlier this year. "We are trying to push people who have gotten lazy and comfortable with an email service that may not be all that great and help show them what email can really do for them," said Dharmesh Mehta who is Outlook.com's senior director.
"Some of the top features are available in the current Hotmail and in comparable form on Gmail and other emails, but what makes this whole thing so nice is its interface, and how so much of the smart stuff happens automatically, or at least semi-automatically," NBC.com's Wilson Rothman wrote in an article.
He added that once users migrate Hotmail to Outlook everything gets categorized automatically and any attached documents and photos have a special "quick view" category.
Gmail is the leading email provider and there are more than 425 million gmail account holders. Yahoo comes in second with 293 million account users and then followed by Hotmail with 267 million users. Microsoft is pushing Outlook to catapualt the company's email status. New features also include being able to send hundreds of photos at a time in a single email and an address book that automatically updates new contact info that are posted on Facebook.
Microsoft reported that Outlook has 60 million account holders. Microsoft has made a series of new product launches recently.
"Microsoft has been trying to catch up with a major makeover of its Windows operating system, new smartphone software and a tablet computer called Surface. Like Outlook.com, all those products have been backed by expensive marketing campaigns in recent months," says the AP.
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