14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has started rolling out POP3 support for the latest version of Windows Live Hotmail, namely Wave 3. With the introduction of the protocol, Windows Live Hotmail users will be able to aggregate all of their Windows Live Hotmail content in email clients on various devices, from desktop PCs to laptops and to mobile phones. Now, just as Windows Live Hotmail Wave 3 was rolled out gradually to users, so will Post Office Protocol version 3 be introduced in stages and on certain markets, one at a time. This means that not all Windows Live Hotmail users will be able to start using POP3 immediately.
Omar Shahine, lead program manager for Windows Live Hotmail, explained to LiveSide Microsoft’s plans about the rolling out of POP3 support in the email service.
“In the process of finishing our release for our big investments for this past year, there are a couple of things the team has been working on and that are starting to roll out. Hotmail is still shipping parts of Wave 3, and giving POP access to our user base is one of the things that we have been working toward for the past wave. We are in the process of turning it on for some markers, so some users have access to it today, and as time goes on, an increasing number of our markets and user base will start getting access to it,” Shahine stated.
Among the lucky few users that already can aggregate their emails from Windows Live Hotmail into clients on top of desktops of mobile devices are those in the Netherlands. Arnout Hemel, product manager, Windows Live, revealed that Windows Live Hotmail had supported POP3 in the Netherlands since the past week.
Post Office Protocol version 3, or POP3 in short, is nothing more than an Internet protocol that permits any client that is POP3-enabled to access and download email from a server.