Microsoft has confirmed its acquisition of mobile e-mail startup Acompli after accidentally letting it slip a week early. Neither party listed the value of the deal although some have heard Microsoft is paying more than $200 million for the startup.
Acompli offered early adopters quite a bit to get excited about including support for Exchange, one-tap calendar integration and ease of access to recently e-mailed files and contacts.
Microsoft Corporate Vice President of Outlook and Office 365, Rajesh Jha, said the acquisition is part of their company-wide effort to help people accomplish more with their mobile devices. The goal with Acompli, Jha added, is to deliver a fantastic cross-platform app that supports the variety of e-mail services people use on a daily basis.
True enough, the Redmond-based company has been expanding its reach across multiple platforms under the guidance of CEO Satya Nadella. For example, Microsoft brought Office to the iPad earlier this year in addition to announcing plans to bring Office to Android devices.
Acompli got its start 18 months ago when CEO Javier Soltero started building a team and a product to improve the e-mail experience on mobile devices.
The good news for existing Acompli users is that the original version isn't going anywhere. Soltero said the app and everyone's accounts will continue to work and that they'll still release updates for it every couple of weeks. How long that promise holds true, however, is anyone's guess.