Microsoft is giving its web portal MSN a much-needed facelift in keeping with the new company mantra of "mobile first, cloud first."
MSN.com is an old horse and has been in existence for close to 20 years. The website accounts for over 400 million unique visitors per month. Post the makeover, MSN will have a sleeker look, new tools for lifestyle and smooth syncing across mobile devices.
On Sunday, Sept. 7, Brian MacDonald, Corporate VP, Information and Content Experiences, made the revamping of MSN announcement via a blog post.
"We have rebuilt MSN from the ground up for a mobile-first, cloud-first world. The new MSN brings together the world's best media sources along with data and services to enable users to do more in News, Sports, Money, Travel, Food & Drink, Health & Fitness, and more. It focuses on the primary digital daily habits in people's lives and helps them complete tasks across all of their devices," revealed Microsoft via blog post.
So what changes does the new MSN.com bring? For starters, on the homepage you can espy the Service Stripe i.e. several shortcuts to Office, Skype, Twitter, OneNote, OneDrive, Facebook, Outlook and Maps.
Microsoft has also divulged that it would be releasing a gamut of MSN apps for iOS and Android as well in the "coming months." This will let users set their preferences across any device. Basically, the idea is to give users access to their favorite lists whether they are at home playing on the iPad or working at their PC at work or on-the-go on their Android phone.
The revamped MSN.com also brings in its folds several utility tools like a savings calculator and shopping lists. Users even have the option to use the 3D body explorer and a symptom checker.
Users can even reorder the categories according to their preference and the "clean" design ensures that content is de-cluttered.
The revamped MSN is available as a preview site at preview.msn.com from Monday, Sept. 7. However, the final version will be pushed out in the coming weeks in over 55 markets.
