14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has been quite an active player in the mobile industry lately, not necessarily thanks to Windows Phone, but because of its efforts to expand in the Android and iOS ecosystems with new apps and acquisitions.
As rumored last week, Microsoft completed the acquisition of Berlin app maker 6Wunderkinder GmbH, which is the owner of to-do list software Wunderlist, one of the top apps of its kind on both Android and iOS.
The Wall Street Journal says that Microsoft paid between $100 million (€91 million) and $200 million (€182 million) for the German company, which could help it expand its offering on rival mobile platforms and improve the feature lineup of the new Windows 10 Mobile operating system projected to launch in late 2015.
Microsoft is out shopping
This isn’t the first acquisition that Microsoft is making in the last few months, as the Redmond-based tech giant has been continuously looking for new purchases that could make it a more active player in the mobile industry.
Recently, the company has purchased Accompli, the maker of one of the top mail apps on both Android and iOS, and rebranded their software as Outlook, with the email client now available on rival platforms and serving as the foundation of the new email app for Windows 10.
What’s more, Microsoft has recently taken over Sunrise Atelier, the makers of Sunrise Calendar, an application that has already recorded millions of downloads on Android and iOS. This time, Microsoft hasn’t renamed Sunrise but preferred to keep its original name. It remains to be seen, however, if Sunrise can be part of Windows 10 Mobile or not.
Windows 10 Mobile is currently in technical preview stage, and users can download and try out the new OS on their devices, but the final version is expected to launch later this year, with some sources claiming that Microsoft is looking at October as a possible release date.
