The company will start sending emails to Hotmail users to upgrade

Dec 7, 2012 15:16 GMT  ·  By

Outlook.com has been officially released earlier this year but, starting next week, Microsoft will begin to encourage existing Hotmail users to make the move to its revamped email service.

The move will still be optional for now, but the Redmond-based technology company could make it mandatory on the long term, as Outlook.com is now playing a key role in Microsoft’s future.

Outlook.com currently has more than 25 million users, according to Microsoft’s very own data, and the company’s biggest challenge is to prove everyone that its very own email service is better than Gmail.

The company has even conducted studies to demonstrate that Gmail users actually like Outlook.com more than Google’s service, with 4 in 5 users said to pick Microsoft’s product thanks to several features, such as keyboard shortcuts and quick access to search operators.