14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is on the verge of rolling out what it called the most significant home-page revamp in over a decade to its MSN portal. The Redmond company first made public plans of a drastic overhaul of the MSN homepage and logo in the first half of November 2009. Users have had a preview version of the redesigned portal available since November 3rd, but, at the same time, around 10% of MSN’s US-based visitors were granted access to the new user experience, even though it was still cooking at that time. Baking time is now almost over, and the software giant is gearing up to release the new design to all MSN users.
“We’ve been working hard to collect feedback and make the new MSN the best homepage on the Web,” Marci Hanan, director, MSN Marketing, revealed. “We’re getting ready to launch the new homepage to all of our customers in the coming weeks and we’re working hard to help our customers learn more about the new homepage. You’ll see examples of the online advertisements we’re running within this blog and if you visit our existing homepage, you’ll see a banner at the top designed to help educate our customers. Today, you can check out the new homepage or take a tour to learn more.”
According to Microsoft, MSN attracts over 575 million unique users worldwide per month, 100 million of whom are just from the US. Back in November, Microsoft noted that the visual refresh of MSN would be offered only to users in the US. I asked the company whether this was still valid, or if the overhauled MSN portal would be offered to all visitors worldwide, and I’m waiting for an answer.
It is important to note that the MSN revamp is not simply a visual refresh. Sure enough, the preview reveals a completely new design, but Microsoft has stressed that the overhauled portal also simplifies navigation, cuts clutter, delivers an evolved search experience with Bing integration, and boosts social-networking connections via Facebook, Twitter and Windows Live.
“The new MSN homepage delivers news, search, local and social networking all in one place – we’ve incorporated a lot of your feedback already, but we’re always happy to hear about what you like – and what you’d like to change. This is going to be an exciting month for our customers,” Hanan stated.
No specific deadline was offered for the launch of the new MSN homepage.