AppleInsider Staff
Microsoft has reportedly closed a deal to acquire popular iOS calendar app Sunrise for "at least" $100 million as the software giant continues to invest in rival mobile platforms under CEO Satya Nadella.
Sunrise would be Microsoft's second acquisition in the mobile productivity space in recent months after it purchased iOS email app Accompli for over $200 million last December. The Sunrise deal was first reported by TechCrunch.
Microsoft's plans for Sunrise are unclear, though the publication believes that Sunrise will survive as a standalone product while lending some technology to other Microsoft groups. Accompli, which was recently relaunched as Outlook for iOS, also includes calendaring functionality.
In addition to the iOS client, Sunrise is also available on the web and the Mac App Store. Sunrise is one of the most popular third-party calendaring solutions on iOS, with a 4.5-star rating from over 2,300 App Store reviews at press time.
After years of essentially ignoring iOS, Microsoft has embraced Apple's platform since Nadella's arrival. Notably, the company finally released the long-awaited Office for iPad suite in March of last year and has steadily worked to improve it in the months following its debut.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
20 Comments
Nothing new here. Microsoft's best products were something they bought and re-branded.
[quote name="Macky the Macky" url="/t/184646/microsoft-acquires-ios-calendar-app-sunrise-for-100m-report#post_2671355"]Nothing new here. Microsoft's best products were something they bought and re-branded.[/quote] Hey now, NeXTSTEP, SoundJam, PA Semi, AuthenTec, ...
although with the important exception that Apple improved these technologies...
[quote name="iGroucho" url="/t/184646/microsoft-acquires-ios-calendar-app-sunrise-for-100m-report#post_2671361"] [COLOR=000000]although [/COLOR]with the important exception that Apple improved these technologies... [/quote] I don't disagree with that, I'm just pointing out it's a slippery slope to come after a company for their acquisitions.
So when is Apple going to start accquiring some of these apps. Their first party iOS apps are nothing to write home about. Why isn't Apple buying something like Fantastical and integrating into the stock calendar app? Instead they spend $3B on Beats and now we find out from [url=http://tinyurl.com/pggzjj5]9to5Mac[/url]: [QUOTE]One source told us that the “Beats integration is not going so well,” and another source said that development of the new service “has been a mess.” Apple executives placed former Beats employees in some critical engineering positions, upsetting long-time Apple engineers. Bobby Gaza, a former Senior VP at Beats Music and Head of Engineering for the new Apple streaming service project left Apple in December. Another source warned that additional significant employee departures from Apple’s services division could be in sight. Sources also indicate that a lack of clarity from Apple executives over the direction of the project has put the launch timeline in jeopardy. Apple had originally planned to debut the new streaming music service as early as March, but sources now say that a later launch in June at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference is a “real possibility.”[/QUOTE] And Mark Gurman tweeted this afternoon: [QUOTE]Head of engineering for the upcoming Apple streaming music service (and former Senior VP of Beats) left Apple https://twitter.com/markgurman/status/563107204857733120?s=17[/QUOTE] Really Apple?!?