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Apps are everywhere; they rose to popularity on the smartphone, then migrated to tablets, desktops, and smartwatches, fueling a war between platforms and ecosystems that rage on to this very day. On the bright side, they can be wonderful things that make our digital experiences fun, practical and more convenient than ever before, and now, they’re coming to the web in Outlook.com.
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In a recent post on the Office Blog, the Outlook Team called for third-party developers to rally behind a new opportunity to reach hundreds of millions of customers when Microsoft introduces Apps for Outlook.com in the spring of 2015.
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As part of the software giant’s push to bring the latest innovation introduced in Office 365 to the masses, Outlook.com will become the same “platform for developers” (see video above) that Office 365 is today. Developers will be given access to a range of API’s to develop apps that can make the email and calendar experience a more productive one, be it at work, home, school, or on the road.
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“Whenever a customer reads or composes an email or calendar event, your app could be there, helping them get the job done. If you have a great idea for how our customers should interact with their email or calendar, now is the time to make it happen” says the Outlook Team.
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Outlook.com currently has about 400 million active customers, so this is without a doubt a massive opportunity for developers who can build apps using open web technologies and standards, such as HTML and Javascript. This will allow customers to experience these apps without having to worry about downloading any plug-ins or extensions.
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Developers can start building these apps today, so that we regular folk should be welcomed by a healthy number of apps by the time Apps for Outlook.com launches next year. Microsoft will share more details on this development at a later date and hinted about them working with some “exciting [app] partners”. We’ll be sure to report on this when they do.
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