As the break neck speed of mobile technology continues to rush forward there are times when it is better to acquire than hire. With the latest acquisition of calendar app maker Sunrise, Microsoft looks to be doing just that. According to sources, the software titan Microsoft is purchasing the cross-platform start up company for roughly $100 million.
While some might argue that Microsoft already provides a decent calendar experience in Windows via Exchange and other Microsoft services, there is always room to grow, and Microsoft these days, is looking to grow as much as it can outside of Windows.
Sunrise offers a mobile and desktop suite of products and approaches to consolidating calendars from various providers. Their apps are currently available on the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPad, Google Play for Android devices as well as the web (for us languishing Windows followers).
With Sunrises’ suite of apps, users can access and maintain their calendars from iCloud, Microsoft Exchange and Google as well as other 3rd party or privately run mail clients.
This open approach to calendars seems to be exactly in line with Microsoft’s new vision of it’s services everywhere, especially on rival platforms. It’s been reported that Microsoft will keep Sunrise as a stand-alone product (for now) and use some of its back end start up technology to further enhance it’s own products in the future. Much like the re-release approach of Mail (formerly Acompli) on iOS and Android, Microsoft seems to be looking to take applications and services that already have a foothold and improving them with Microsoft touches.
This acquisition along with Acompli should help investors see a clearer path to Microsoft’s mobile first cloud first approach. This glacial shift from tightly integrated-Windows only services to cross platform single use apps that can integrate tightly to the Microsoft suite of services is a good sign and the right approach for everyone in the mobile space moving forward.
