14 DAY TRIAL // It’s no secret that Microsoft has often been criticized for the growing interest it shows in iOS apps, while more or less neglecting Windows Phone (the Outlook email app that’s currently available on iPhones, for instance, will only be available in Windows 10 Mobile as an integrated solution – but this OS is yet to debut), so it’s very interesting to listen to the company’s CEO talking about their non-Windows software.
Satya Nadella took the stage at the Salesforce Dreamforce conference to discuss cloud solutions, but the new CEO also highlighted some of Microsoft’s latest products, including apps that are developed to run on iOS.
So Nadella took out an iPhone, which “is not mine,” as he said from the very beginning, to demonstrate how Microsoft apps run on rival platforms.
“It’s an iPhone Pro,” he said, explaining that it’s more than a regular Apple device simply because it has all Microsoft’s apps on it. “It’s got all the Microsoft software and applications on it, it’s got Skype, it’s pretty amazing. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and even all the new stuff, OneNote, Sway.”
“Outlook is the best email client on iOS”
Nadella then went on to talk about the Outlook email client that’s currently available on iOS (and Android), and which will soon be integrated into Windows 10 Mobile as the default email app.
“Outlook is of course an email client, but here is the best email client on iOS for Gmail and Exchange, only from Microsoft. That’s I think what we really aspired to do,” Nadella said.
The funny thing is that Microsoft hasn’t built Outlook for iOS and Android from the ground-up, but instead used an app developed by Accompli, which the company purchased earlier this year, as the foundation. Outlook is more or less a rebranded version of Accompli’s client, so it might be great, but it’s not entirely Microsoft’s.
And yes, Microsoft’s apps are available everywhere these days, including iOS and Android (Samsung, for instance, pre-installs Office, Skype, and OneDrive on its new-generation S devices), but it’s still an enigma how many users actually keep these apps on their phones. Because it’s no secret that many are rallying against junkware and believe such apps should be removed from the very beginning.
