Microsoft acquires Sunrise for $100 million, looks to expand cross-platform calendar app technologies

When in doubt, buy the best calendar app you can and make it part of your services package.

Microsoft has shelled out a reported US$100 million for Sunrise, an outfit offering a suite of calendar products for mobile and desktop users that connects with and consolidates calendars from different providers. It’s available on the iPhone, iPad, Android devices, and on the Mac App Store, as well as offering a web client.

Users can access their calendars from Google, iCloud, and Microsoft Exchange, as well as connecting to a wide range of other third-party apps. That cross-device and cross-platform support has helped it gain significant traction among users.

The purchase furthers Microsoft’s push into supporting the platforms of rival technology firms. Microsoft made waves when it released a touch-friendly version of Office for Apple iOS, for example, before it did so for its own Windows 10 platform.

Microsoft will reportedly keep the Sunrise apps alive as stand-alone products, while using some of the startup’s technology for its own future products. This is similar to what it did with Acompli, which Microsoft acquired for US$200 million. That acquisition ended up becoming a part of its most recent Outlook for Android and iOS apps, launched just last week.

The two purchases indicate that Microsoft is investing heavily in the mobile productivity space in ways that transcend its traditional set of Office apps. The company is currently executing a strategic shift from selling standalone apps, to selling Office as a service to both consumers and businesses. For that to work, Office has to be a daily part of the modern smartphone users’ productivity cycle.

As of now, Microsoft has refused to comment on the acquisition.

Via TechCrunch