As part of CEO Satya Nadella's cross-platform strategy to turn Microsoft around, the Windows maker has just spent $200 million to pick up a startup whose claim to fame is an email client similar to Outlook but designed for iOS and Android users.
In a blog post, Microsoft corporate vice president for Outlook and Office 365 Rajesh Jha officially announced that the company has acquired 18-month-old startup Acompli after accidentally leaking the news earlier in an empty blog post with the URL "microsoft-acquires-accompli". Acompli CEO Javier Soltero also confirms the news in his own blog post.
"I'm pleased to announce that Microsoft has acquired Acompli, provider of innovative mobile email apps for iOS and Android," Jha says. "This acquisition is part of our company-wide effort to help people accomplish more with their mobile devices."
It's easy to see the rationale behind Microsoft's latest acquisition. Acompli, while still new, enjoys a stellar reputation with business and IT departments because of its easy, one-tap integration with Microsoft Exchange, Gmail, Google Apps, iCloud and Yahoo. It can also easily access emailed attachments as well as files stored in Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive. As The Verge calls it, Acompli is "the Outlook for iPhone that Microsoft hasn't yet built."
The acquisition also brings in Soltero, who carries with him extensive experience working as chief technology officer at Microsoft rival VMWare. Soltero, whose application management startup Hyperic was bought by SpringSource, which was acquired by VMWare in 2009, was part of a VMWare team working on cloud technology, a key business for Microsoft.
Along with Soltero, co-founder JJ Zhuang will also become part of Microsoft's workforce, bringing with him his experience as chief architect of email app Zimbra and a VMWare team leader of engineers working on Horizon Workspace, VMWare's own mobility management solutions.
Microsoft and Acompli have yet to announce their future plans, although Soltero says the original Acompli app will remain fully functional for existing users; they will continue to receive upgrades and improvements.
"Over the next few months, we'll be sharing more about the exciting product plans we have as Acompli becomes a part of Microsoft," says Soltero. "We remain committed to the original Acompli vision of making the best mobile email application on any platform and across all services."
On the other hand, Microsoft is likely to integrate Acompli into Office 365 as it continues to brand Office as the future of cloud and mobile. Recently, Microsoft moved its OneDrive business under the Office 365 unit and announced deeper integration with Dropbox for the Office apps for iOS and Android.
