Microsoft reboots Hotmail to build consumer destination, says analyst

31.07.2012
Microsoft's rebranding of Hotmail as Outlook.com is a move by the company to hold its first-place position in free email while pushing the domain as more of a consumer destination, an analyst said today.

Earlier today, , a massive overhaul of Hotmail that features a visual redesign, integration with the SkyDrive cloud-based storage service and free online Office apps, and ties with several social networking sites, from Facebook and Twitter to LinkedIn.

While Microsoft will run Hotmail and Outlook.com side-by-side for an indefinite period, eventually the company will ditch the former, the company said today.

Wes Miller, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash.-based research firm that only tracks Microsoft's moves, said the shift to Outlook.com illustrates Microsoft's recent focus on consumers. "They're trying to harmonize the value of Hotmail and the Metro design language with the services they already provide," said Miller. "They want to make Hotmail become more of a destination, a place where users spend more time."

Outlook.com, like Hotmail and other free email services such as Google's Gmail, runs advertisements within its browser-based interface. The more time users spend on Outlook.com, the more ads Microsoft can show them.

But Microsoft isn't trying to make Outlook.com "stickier" -- a term that describes websites that not only attract users, but keep them there -- using its social media ties.