Microsoft have announced the availability of a new product aimed at allowing customers to combine the power of Microsoft Outlook with the mobility of Hotmail. Called Microsoft Outlook Live, the subscription based offering is supposed to allow users to more efficiently manage their lives.
The idea is that users will be able to synchronize their Outlook based information, such as contacts and calendars, with their Hotmail accounts. This means that you will in effect be able to access your usually office bound information from wherever you can access Hotmail.
An introductory price of $44.95 (until April 19th 2005) gets you a 2 gigabyte Hotmail account and a copy of Microsoft Outlook 2003 for Subscription services. After April 19th the price rises to $59.95.
The ability to take all your calendar and contact information around with you is not new, most PDA's and the majority of new phones already allow this to happen. What is less clear is how confident users will be in Microsoft's ability to store their personal information securely online.
No doubt Microsoft are aiming this at the personal market rather than the business market. How many customers will be willing to pay for this service is unknown, but with 187 million Hotmail accounts in existence, Microsoft probably only need a small percentage of them to sign on for this to make them money. If you decide to use us, let us know how you find it in our comments section below.