Roger Fingas
Microsoft appears to be developing a streamlined chat and email application for iPhones called Flow by Outlook, a leaked download webpage marked "Microsoft Confidential" revealed on Wednesday.
The page was discovered by a Twitter user known as @h0x0d, and describes the app as a "great way to have rapid email conversations on your phone with the people who are important to you." Users can reach anyone with an email address, the page adds, and conversations started in Flow can be continued in Outlook.
The main difference with Flow is that salutations, signatures, and even subject lines are dropped, turning conversations into something akin to instant messaging. The app also hides any email exchanges not started in Flow.
A Microsoft spokesperson told ZDNet that the company had nothing to share about the app. The comment may have indirectly confirmed the app's existence, but there's no indication of when Flow might become available or even what it will look like.
Microsoft already has an iOS version of Outlook, but the company has been releasing an assortment of small-scale Office iOS apps for different tasks. Flow could be an answer to the popularity of lightweight email apps like Google Inbox.
Christine McKee
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16 Comments
MSN Communicator then Windows Communicator, brought to you by Lync, replaced by Skype and Skype for Business, featuring Flow by Outlook developed by the artist formerly known as Microsoft.
Actually, this sounds like an interesting idea. It would be nice to be able to "IM" a colleague on occassion without having to know their phone number or set them up as a contact or worse have them know my #.
MSN Communicator then Windows Communicator, brought to you by Lync, replaced by Skype and Skype for Business, featuring Flow by Outlook developed by the artist formerly known as Microsoft.
My company has adopted Lync as our corporate messaging solution. What a festering pile of crap. Works fine for instant messaging, but the meeting functionality is abysmal and its VoIP functionality works about 10% of the time. Compare that to Skype (which I use for my home VoIP solution) which works great, certainly because Microsoft bought it rather than created it.
Good job Microsoft - because we need yet another one of your crappy communication tools.
[quote name="djames4242" url="/t/186348/microsoft-inadvertently-reveals-flow-by-outlook-chat-app-for-iphone#post_2725410"] My company has adopted Lync as our corporate messaging solution. What a festering pile of crap. Works fine for instant messaging, but the meeting functionality is abysmal and its VoIP functionality works about 10% of the time. Compare that to Skype (which I use for my home VoIP solution) which works great, certainly because Microsoft bought it rather than created it. Good job Microsoft - because we need yet another one of your crappy communication tools. [/quote] We use Cisco Jabber at my company which isn't too bad but we also use WebEx which is painfully slow.
If I remember, WebEx is Java based. I love developing in Java for server-side applications, but it can be painfully slow to use for front-end applications.