Microsoft acquires iOS calendar app Sunrise for $100M - report

Posted:
in iPhone edited February 2015
Microsoft has reportedly closed a deal to acquire popular iOS calendar app Sunrise for "at least" $100 million as the software giant continues to invest in rival mobile platforms under CEO Satya Nadella.

Sunrise Calendar

Sunrise would be Microsoft's second acquisition in the mobile productivity space in recent months after it purchased iOS email app Accompli for over $200 million last December. The Sunrise deal was first reported by TechCrunch.

Microsoft's plans for Sunrise are unclear, though the publication believes that Sunrise will survive as a standalone product while lending some technology to other Microsoft groups. Accompli, which was recently relaunched as Outlook for iOS, also includes calendaring functionality.

In addition to the iOS client, Sunrise is also available on the web and the Mac App Store. Sunrise is one of the most popular third-party calendaring solutions on iOS, with a 4.5-star rating from over 2,300 App Store reviews at press time.

After years of essentially ignoring iOS, Microsoft has embraced Apple's platform since Nadella's arrival. Notably, the company finally released the long-awaited Office for iPad suite in March of last year and has steadily worked to improve it in the months following its debut.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    Nothing new here. Microsoft's best products were something they bought and re-branded.
  • Reply 2 of 20
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    Nothing new here. Microsoft's best products were something they bought and re-branded.

    Hey now, NeXTSTEP, SoundJam, PA Semi, AuthenTec, ...
  • Reply 3 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post





    Hey now, NeXTSTEP, SoundJam, PA Semi, AuthenTec, ...



    although with the important exception that Apple improved these technologies...

  • Reply 4 of 20
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    igroucho wrote: »
    although with the important exception that Apple improved these technologies...

    I don't disagree with that, I'm just pointing out it's a slippery slope to come after a company for their acquisitions.
  • Reply 5 of 20
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    So when is Apple going to start accquiring some of these apps. Their first party iOS apps are nothing to write home about. Why isn't Apple buying something like Fantastical and integrating into the stock calendar app? Instead they spend $3B on Beats and now we find out from [url=http://tinyurl.com/pggzjj5]9to5Mac[/url]:

    [QUOTE]One source told us that the “Beats integration is not going so well,” and another source said that development of the new service “has been a mess.” Apple executives placed former Beats employees in some critical engineering positions, upsetting long-time Apple engineers. Bobby Gaza, a former Senior VP at Beats Music and Head of Engineering for the new Apple streaming service project left Apple in December. Another source warned that additional significant employee departures from Apple’s services division could be in sight.

    Sources also indicate that a lack of clarity from Apple executives over the direction of the project has put the launch timeline in jeopardy. Apple had originally planned to debut the new streaming music service as early as March, but sources now say that a later launch in June at the annual Worldwide Developers Conference is a “real possibility.”[/QUOTE]

    And Mark Gurman tweeted this afternoon:

    [QUOTE]Head of engineering for the upcoming Apple streaming music service (and former Senior VP of Beats) left Apple


    Really Apple?!?
  • Reply 6 of 20
    pfisherpfisher Posts: 758member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Macky the Macky View Post



    Nothing new here. Microsoft's best products were something they bought and re-branded.



    No problem. As long as they do a good job with it. Apple and Google and Yahoo and so on do just the same thing.

  • Reply 7 of 20
    pfisherpfisher Posts: 758member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    So when is Apple going to start accquiring some of these apps. Their first party iOS apps are nothing to write home about. Why isn't Apple buying something like Fantastical and integrating into the stock calendar app? Instead they spend $3B on Beats and now we find out from 9to5Mac:

    And Mark Gurman tweeted this afternoon:

    Really Apple?!?



    Nobody is perfect. Apple continues to show that it is lackluster in execution of services and mediocre with solid OS.

     

    Apple:

    1. Amazing hardware (as close as you can get to perfect and totally awesome)

    2. Fair operating systems (ship with lots of bugs and shipping too many new features too often)

    3. Weak to poor services (cloud storage, office suite, email)

     

    It would be nice if they just focused on #1 and #2. Leave services to Google and the others. Luckily we have (and leverage) that option of using others for our services.

     

    You may throw your rotten tomatoes now in my direction. If you want facts, I don't have any I really care to document. I only can afford opinions as a customer.

  • Reply 8 of 20
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    rogifan wrote: »
    [Beats]

    Still b****ing about Beats huh?

    You always find a way to mention how bad an idea the Beats acquisition was.

    Let it go already.....
  • Reply 9 of 20
    solipsismy wrote: »
    Hey now, NeXTSTEP, SoundJam, PA Semi, AuthenTec, ...

    Those are company purchases, specifically designed to evolve the purchaser by keeping the entire engineering, consulting services and support staffing.

    Is Microsoft doing the same?
  • Reply 10 of 20
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    cali wrote: »
    Still b****ing about Beats huh?

    You always find a way to mention how bad an idea the Beats acquisition was.

    Let it go already.....

    Looks like I might be right. It will be pretty sad if engineers in Apple's services division leave because Beats employees are getting the best jobs.
  • Reply 11 of 20
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    pfisher wrote: »

    Nobody is perfect. Apple continues to show that it is lackluster in execution of services and mediocre with solid OS.

    Apple:
    1. Amazing hardware (as close as you can get to perfect and totally awesome)
    2. Fair operating systems (ship with lots of bugs and shipping too many new features too often)
    3. Weak to poor services (cloud storage, office suite, email)

    It would be nice if they just focused on #1 and #2. Leave services to Google and the others. Luckily we have (and leverage) that option of using others for our services.

    You may throw your rotten tomatoes now in my direction. If you want facts, I don't have any I really care to document. I only can afford opinions as a customer.

    Apple should buy whatever it needs to to make #2 world class and #3 better than it is. And if that means snatching up great 3rd party apps so be it.
  • Reply 12 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post





    Looks like I might be right. It will be pretty sad if engineers in Apple's services division leave because Beats employees are getting the best jobs.



    Engineers in Apple divisions left because NeXT people got their jobs too...

     

     

     

    As Om Malik notes, what does it say that the company who created Exchange has to buy apps that interface with it rather than developing something in house? http://om.co/2015/02/04/microsofts-mobile-inabilities/

  • Reply 13 of 20
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member

    Engineers in Apple divisions left because NeXT people got their jobs too...



    As Om Malik notes, what does it say that the company who created Exchange has to buy apps that interface with it rather than developing something in house? http://om.co/2015/02/04/microsofts-mobile-inabilities/

    Well one could ask why did the company that revolutionized music pay $3B to buy a streaming music service rather than developing something in house?
  • Reply 14 of 20
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    rogifan wrote: »
    ...9to5Mac...

    Poster 1sugomac over on that site put out a funny:

    1000
  • Reply 15 of 20
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pfisher View Post

     



    Nobody is perfect. Apple continues to show that it is lackluster in execution of services and mediocre with solid OS.

     

    Apple:

    1. Amazing hardware (as close as you can get to perfect and totally awesome)

    2. Fair operating systems (ship with lots of bugs and shipping too many new features too often)

    3. Weak to poor services (cloud storage, office suite, email)

     

    It would be nice if they just focused on #1 and #2. Leave services to Google and the others. Luckily we have (and leverage) that option of using others for our services.

     

    You may throw your rotten tomatoes now in my direction. If you want facts, I don't have any I really care to document. I only can afford opinions as a customer.


     

    No rotten tomatoes from me. I think the "big release once per year" is a flawed approach that Apple is executing poorly on, when it comes to software. I strongly feel that they should move to a more incremental release schedule for software... small improvements at a regular tick throughout the year. That will allow the software to mature and stabilize. The model they use right now makes giant jumps forward, and that leaves roadkill in its path because then they begin focusing on their next big jump. I'm not suggesting that they slow down, but rather distribute the releases more steadily throughout the year. Imagine new features coming online each week or month... constant improvements... and that would also translate into quicker bug fixes as feedback flowed in from the general user base on a smaller number of features. The big-release approach is not working.

     

    As for hardware, I think they are doing well right now, although the lack of updates for products, such as the Mac Pro and their displays, is concerning.

     

    For services, I think iCloud has matured into a fantastic product. Very well-designed. Clean. Simple. Reliable. They are taking the more incremental approach with their services development, so that seems to be a proven model. Now for them to apply that to their device software.

  • Reply 16 of 20
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pfisher View Post

     

    Apple:

     

    2. Fair operating systems (ship with lots of bugs and shipping too many new features too often)

     


     

    An OS is complex. Yes Apple release with 'lots' of bugs, but comparatively it's bug free. 

    Apple has a minor glitch, it's world news. Microsoft or Google ship an abomination and it doesn't touch the radar.

    Personally, I think they do a grand job considering the complexity.

  • Reply 17 of 20

    If it had been Google, I'd delete the app.

     

    Anyway, these days my preferred calendar app is Fantastical.

  • Reply 18 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pfisher View Post

     



    Nobody is perfect. Apple continues to show that it is lackluster in execution of services and mediocre with solid OS.

     

    Apple:

    1. Amazing hardware (as close as you can get to perfect and totally awesome)

    2. Fair operating systems (ship with lots of bugs and shipping too many new features too often)

    3. Weak to poor services (cloud storage, office suite, email)

     

    It would be nice if they just focused on #1 and #2. Leave services to Google and the others. Luckily we have (and leverage) that option of using others for our services.

     

    You may throw your rotten tomatoes now in my direction. If you want facts, I don't have any I really care to document. I only can afford opinions as a customer.




    Agree!  iCloud is lackluster, Pages weak,  Yosemite still gives problems.

  • Reply 19 of 20
    Agreed with pfisher, as noted, 1. and 2. are the most important things for Apple to work on. The hardware is great, and pretty much speaks for itself. The operating systems that Apple has released from OS X Lion onward are very bloated, and run slowly. What the company needs to do is move to a tick-tock schedule, where one year a new OS is released with new features, while the next year, NO NEW FEATURES should be released, and the bugs and bloatedness are worked out to keep the system running smoothly.
  • Reply 20 of 20
    pfisherpfisher Posts: 758member
    An OS is complex. Yes Apple release with 'lots' of bugs, but comparatively it's bug free. 
    Apple has a minor glitch, it's world news. Microsoft or Google ship an abomination and it doesn't touch the radar.
    Personally, I think they do a grand job considering the complexity.
    Fair enough. My gripes are more with iOS. Such as search sometimes not working. Or you rotate your phone and the screen doesn't rotate. Podcasts not working for auto downloads. And so on. I just realized I don't use my Mac much anymore.
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