Microsoft Ad Campaign Pushes Outlook Over Gmail
COMMENTARY | Microsoft is pushing Outlook as being superior to Gmail in an ad campaign.
Microsoft has just spent at least $30 million to prove that Outlook is superior to all other email services in the US. It worked for WalMart, didn’t it? Throw enough money into it and anything looks good.
On Tuesday, Microsoft plans to escalate an assault on all rival email services such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and several others. Hotmail and MSN-based email services will be converted into Outlook by summer, apparently. In order to stave off confusion, email addresses won’t change, just the domain that hosts them.
I wonder if Microsoft remembers being ordered to split the business up over accusations of monopoly? It looks like they’re heading right back into monopoly if the ad campaign works.
People still check their inboxes regularly, even moreso on smartphones. Internet companies are using this to keep people coming back to websites, but the smart ones will just delete it or mark it as spam if it’s too persistent. According to the Huffington Post, those companies think it makes it easier for email providers to track their activities, collecting location information and personal identification for better ads. So what happens when people turn off their location sharing and don’t sync up their phone service on that level?
This marketing trick that Microsoft, Google and Yahoo think you don’t know about is the reason they have been changing things recently. And now Microsoft is putting its money where its mouth is, and throwing it into an ad campaign convincing you that they are offering superior email service.
At least Yahoo went the right direction with their service change, giving their email a secure server.
Do you think Microsoft is offering a superior service with Outlook, or is it just the money talking?
INCREDIBLE. Microsoft’s Scroogle website offers Outlook as a superior privacy option! Now you can be spied on by google AND microsoft! joy!
— Lisa Rein (@lisarein) February 15, 2013
