Microsoft To ‘Reinvent’ Mobile Calendars After Sunrise Takeover

Microsoft says its acquisition of mobile calendar app developer Sunrise will allow to “reinvent” the way that people use calendars on mobile devices.

Sunrise is regarded as one of the best calendar applications for iOS and Android and allows users to organise events alongside relevant information such as Google Maps directions and third party integration with services like TripIt.

All current Sunrise apps for iOS, Android and desktop will remain active after the acquisition, which is for an undisclosed sum,  but it’s likely that many of the features will be incorporated into Microsoft services such as Office and Outlook.

Microsoft Sunrise

Microsoft says it will reveal more details about how it plans to use its new assets in the coming months.

“Our goal is to better help people manage and make the most of their time in a mobile-first, cloud-first world,” said Rajesh Jha, corporate vice president of Outlook and Office 365. “The Sunrise app will accelerate Microsoft’s path to that future of calendaring. By connecting your calendar with a range of services, it provides a far better view of your day, week or month ahead. It acts in a helpful and automatic way, pulling relevant details from across your digital life.

“Sunrise has a talented team driven by a singular goal to make calendaring more useful for every human on the planet. Their passion, the calibre of their talent, and their commitment to openness have inspired us. We look forward to welcoming the Sunrise team to Microsoft. We’re confident they will help us to push the boundaries on what’s possible for calendaring.”

The acquisition builds on Microsoft’s recent purchase of Accompli, which was used as the basis of the new Outlook mobile app, which has been well received. However, many organisations are banning the use of the app over security fears.

It seems that the app allows users to access personal accounts on cloud services like OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive, while data is stored on servers in the cloud, bypassing a number of security policies and rendering any encryption useless.

What do you know about the smartphones of 2014?