Microsoft has announced that its free-to-use email service, Hotmail, will undergo a major upgrade in the coming months.
Hotmail, first launched in 1996, was acquired by Microsoft a year later for an estimated $400 million and has since grown to become the world's most popular web-based email service, attracting some 350 million registered users.
However, despite its popularity, rival services such as Google's Gmail have in recent years stolen the limelight with new and innovative features. Reacting to that trend, Microsoft corporate vice president yesterday admitted that "Hotmail wasn't doing the best job it could to serve customers", and acknowledged that his team need to add "a whole lot of other things" in order to prevent customers opting for alternative services.
As it turns out, "a whole lot of other things" are in the pipeline as Microsoft is gearing up to launch its biggest Hotmail refresh in years. Expected to arrive on or around July 2010, the "re-invented" mail service will aim to revamp the user experience by offering improved inbox filtering, support for third-party services from within the Hotmail site, easier file sharing and mobile support via Exchange ActiveSync.
In terms of clearing out a user's inbox of junk and clutter - a seemingly endless task - the next-generation Hotmail will introduce "Sweep" functionality. Acting as a simplified alternative to Outlook Rules, Hotmail Sweep will allow users to move or delete all mail from a specified recipient, with the option to automate any pre-defined Sweeps.
In response to the way email is now used - over 1.5 billion photos are sent by Hotmail users each month - Microsoft is introducing integrated support for third-party services such as Flickr, YouTube and Hulu, allowing users to open links and view media content without having to leave the Hotmail page.
Extending upon that functionality, tomorrow's Hotmail will also introduce tighter integration with Windows Live SkyDrive. Using the free online storage service, Hotmail users will be able to improve their photo-sharing experience by making photos available to friends and family via SkyDrive as opposed to large and potentially troublesome attachments. Using the automated SkyDrive facility, users will be able to share up to 200 50MB photos, with the recipient able to view the images as an online slideshow or download them as a single zipped file.
Adding office productivity into the mix, the new Hotmail - internally codenamed Wave 4 - will also offer integrated support for Office Web Apps, a free web-based service that will allow users to view and edit Office documents on PCs or Macs without a pre-installed Office suite.
Last but not least, Microsoft confirmed that Hotmail Wave 4 will introduce Exchange ActiveSync support, through which users will be able to push and synchronise email, calendar and contacts to mobile devices. In order to make use of both Hotmail and a corporate Exchange service, however, users will require a mobile platform that supports two-or-mote simultaneous ActiveSync connections - such as the Palm Pre or any Windows Phone 7 device.
The new release of Hotmail is expected to launch alongside a major refresh of the entire Windows Live Essentials suite in the coming months. Kicking off what's certain to be a high-profile marketing campaign, Microsoft has provided a closer look at the new Hotmail over at HotmailPreview.com.
