Recode was first to report the $200 million figure, and we’ve also confirmed. We’ve also heard this was an all-cash deal.
“18 months ago we started building a team and a product around the idea that we could make mobile email better,” reads an Acompli blog post announcing the news. “Today that journey continues as part of a larger organization with the technology, talent, and market reach that will help us take the vision of Acompli to hundreds of millions of mobile users across the world.”
Acompli was backed by $7.3 million from Redpoint and others for its mobile email app designed for a professional user base who need better tools for managing email, calendaring and file sharing while on the go. Satish Dharmaraj of Repoint writes today that it was a “no-brainer” to fund the team behind Acompli, which includes CEO Javier Soltero, Kevin Henrikson and J. J Zhuang.
At Microsoft, Acompli will work within the Office 365 organization and will function as an independent group building out mobile email products for iOS and Android. Though the app already supported Microsoft Exchange email as well as Office 365 for file access, its integration within the larger organization will open itself to even more opportunities to tie the two businesses and their products together.
What’s interesting, however, is that there are no plans to terminate support for competing email services in the Acompli application. Today, the app supports Exchange, Gmail and Google Apps, iCloud, and Yahoo, for example. And many of Acompli’s earliest users are those who took advantage of Microsoft’s competitors’ products. In other words, that means Microsoft is now in the business of running an email client app that supports business customers who have “gone Google,” so to speak, or who don’t utilize Microsoft’s email (Exchange or Outlook.com/MSN/Hotmail), or its cloud services.
That’s a big shift for the company. It’s hard to imagine the Microsoft of just two years ago making this kind of deal.
Of course, what Microsoft is interested in is the business potential for Acompli. Before talks between the two companies got started, Acompli already had several enterprise pilot programs in the works with Fortune 500 companies. The eventual goal was to put these big businesses on a premium tier, where they would help the startup generate revenue. (It’s currently a free app offering for download on iTunes and Google Play.)
As for how Acompli is being tied into Microsoft going forward, a lot of the details are still being ironed out, including whether it will be rebranded, or sold alongside other Microsoft products as a part of a bundle deal. But Acompli for now is remaining focused on email, not other parts of an online productivity suite. Email will remain the heart of what it does, and its other features like calendaring or file-sharing spin off from that.
Microsoft is paying very close attention to the mobile space, and as this acquisition shows, it’s thinking about how it can compete without isolating itself from the larger ecosystem, as in the past. That’s a huge shift indicting some fresher thinking for the Redmond giant, and not the first of its kind either. Microsoft and Dropbox also recently announced a partnership focused on deeper integrations between the two companies, despite Microsoft owning a direct Dropbox competitor with OneDrive.
Users will soon be able to use Skype from a browser — without having to download anything.
Microsoft announced on Friday that it will soon launch a web-based version of the video-conferencing platform.
The new version of Skype, which is still in beta, allows users to log in to their existing accounts from Skype's website when using Chome, Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer. Instant messaging is supported as soon as you log in, but voice and video calls require the extra step of installing a browser plugin, although Microsoft says this additional step will only be a temporary necessity.
"In the future, using Skype on the web will become even easier and convenient," the company wrote Friday in a blog post. "Imagine you wanted to meet your child’s teacher, or conduct an online interview with a potential candidate — you’ll be able to chat over Skype directly from a browser in just a click."
Given that the service is still in beta, it's worth pointing out there are several issues with Skype's current web-based version. Microsoft notes that Mac users may experience an "issue with battery consumption," and outgoing video calls may take longer than normal to connect for all web users.
Microsoft is rolling out the service to a limited number of users "in the coming months," with a larger rollout to follow. The company did not say how many users would be part of the initial phase, but those who are selected will see invitations when they log in to their Skype account from Skype.com.
The patch addresses a security hole in Schannel, Windows' secure channel used for security protocols like encrypted communication, particularly for Internet applications that use HTTP.
Microsoft puts it this way: Attackers could send "specially crafted" data packets to the Windows server you're running. By exploiting this vulnerability, they could execute code remotely and deliver something nasty to your computer. On its security bulletin, Microsoft said there are no mitigating factors or workarounds to lessen the blow of these attacks.
There hasn't been any indication that the vulnerability has been used to attack the general public, according to Microsoft. The patch mends the problem by altering the way Windows processes packets. Just in time, too — from the sounds of it, this could have been bad. Other than that, Microsoft doesn't provide much more information about the vulnerability.
The patch comes over on Windows Update, so it's best for Windows users to run the scheduled update as they get a chance.
The rebranding fits with Microsoft's strategy to "re-invent productivity" for all, not just business. To that end, it wants to offer a unified experience across services, so consumers and businesses have similar experiences.
"Large enterprises know Lync, and consumers all know Skype," Gurdeep Pall, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Skype, told Mashable. "If you're a small or medium business, you're kind of lost. You feel, 'Is Lync for me? Is it too heavy duty? But Skype definitely feels too light for me.' We think that by having this one consistent brand, we are able to reach all the constituents in that spectrum."
Users of Skype for Business will see the same Skype user interface from the consumer client, although they'll be two different apps (if a user also has the modern version of Skype installed, too, that would make three). Moreover, users of the Skype and Skype for Business will have two different usernames on the same service.
"We thought the most important convergence path was to feel familiar," says Pall"We thought the most important convergence path was to feel familiar," says Pall. "We have not yet landed on the right model for when you have two identities, and you're trying to juggle them on the same experience. We are finding our path."
The rebranding extends to the back-end service and on-premises business servers. Microsoft says the service will have the same "security, compliance and control" that Lync users are accustomed to, just wrapped in the Skype experience. Notably, users will have access to the Skype directory from the app, being able to look up anyone on the Skype network — not just business customers.
The unification of videoconferencing apps under the Skype banner mirrors Microsoft's approach with most of its other services. The company rebranded Hotmail as Outlook.com in 2012, giving the web mail service the same name as its ubiquitous email app. Microsoft's cloud storage services also carry similar naming to Skype: OneDrive and OneDrive for Business.
Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011. At the time, it was unclear what the long-term strategy was behind having two separate services that could both do video chat. When it came time to consolidate the brands, Skype's large consumer footprint and instant familiarity made it the easy choice over Lync.
The move means Dropbox users will soon be able to access their Dropbox files directly from Office apps, and edit Office files from the Dropbox app.
The deal, announced by Dropbox’s Ilya Fushman in a blog post on Tuesday, means users will also be able to easily share Dropbox links from Office, so once you’re done editing a particular document, you’ll be able to quickly share it with friends or colleagues by firing off a link.
“Dropbox is home to over 35 billion Office documents, spreadsheets, and presentations,” Fushman said in the post. “That’s why we’re partnering with Microsoft to help you do more on your phones, tablets, and the Web.”
Speaking to The Verge about the partnership, Kirk Koenigsbauer, head of Microsoft’s Office Engineering team, said that access to Dropbox content “popped as one of the very first [Office for iPad] requests that customers had.”
Koenigsbauer added, “They want access to where their content is. We’re doing it to make sure customers have a great experience.”
Dropbox is set to appear together with Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage option in the Office for iPad app, allowing Dropbox users to work on Office documents from within the app.
The new feature is free for all of Dropbox’s basic and pro users, though its business customers will require an Office 365 subscription. Hop over to Dropbox’s business blog here to find out more. The changes will land for Dropbox users on iOS and Android in the coming weeks.
At some point next year the features will also come to the Web “by adding integrations between the Dropbox website and Office Online,” Fushman said, adding as a side note that the startup will also be launching a Dropbox app for Windows Phone and Windows tablet users in the coming months.
