1 million sign up for Microsoft's new email service on first day

Published August 2, 2012 3:17pm

At least one million people have signed up to try out Microsoft's new Outlook.com email service within the first day of its debut, the software giant claimed.

Microsoft posted a tweet on the Outlook.com Twitter account showing a line graph that the one-million mark was reached 24 hours after the service went live.

"One million people have signed up for a new, modern email experience at http://Outlook.com . Thanks!," it said.

The graph indicated the count started July 30 and ended July 31, reaching 1,004,763 sign-ins.

A separate article on CNET noted Outlook.com is the successor to Hotmail, which is facing stiff competition from Gmail and other email services.

Outlook.com promises to eventually integrate Microsoft-acquired Skype, to match up with Gmail's video chat - which itself is about to get an upgrade to Hangouts.

"But the real measure of success will be if existing Hotmail users voluntarily make the jump to Outlook.com of their own accord: the software giant still has to hope it can generate enough buzz around the new service to prevent a mass exodus to rival services, such as Google's Gmail," CNET said.

CNET added Google's Gmail remains in the lead with 425 million users, while Hotmail had more than 350 million at the last count. — TJD, GMA News

Tags: microsoft, outlook