Back in February of 2015, Microsoft acquired the company behind Sunrise, a calendar app for iPhone, Android, and the web, reportedly for $100 million. Microsoft announced its intentions to merge Sunrise into Outlook, and in May of this year Sunrise announced it would be shutting down operations and pulling its apps from the stores, on August 31st, 2016 (today).
Part of that announcement indicated that functionality included in Sunrise would be appearing in Outlook offerings:
As heartbreaking as this (shutting down the app) sounds, we’re hard at work bringing the magic of Sunrise to the Outlook apps, with all your most loved features – interesting calendars, event icons and calendar apps. We’re confident you’ll be able to find our special touch there too.”
Unfortunately for Outlook users, and maybe fortunately for Sunrise users on iPhone and Android, Microsoft hasn’t moved as quickly as first thought in aggregating Sunrise content into Outlook. According to a statement issued to PC World, Sunrise won’t be shutting down after all, at least not yet:
Microsoft says Sunrise Calendar will not shut down on August 31 after all. “[W]e have chosen to wait a little longer in order to deliver a few more Sunrise-inspired features in Outlook,” the company told PCWorld. “Once those features are released, the Sunrise app will officially be shut down.”
If you’re a Sunrise user, you’ll apparently be able to hang on to your favorite calendar app for just a little bit longer, and if you’re an Outlook user waiting for Sunrise-inspired functionality, well your wait continues.
We’ll keep you posted on all the latest on Sunrise, Outlook and all things Microsoft, stay tuned to WinBeta!
