Sabeer Bhatia hails the relaunch of Hotmail by Microsoft

 Sabeer Bhatia, the Indian-born co-founder of Hotmail, has hailed Microsoft's decision to relaunch the iconic email service as Outlook.com, as the technology major looks to break the hegemony established by Google's Gmail in recent years, but also bring about greater integration between social networking and email services.

Speaking to ETfrom San Francisco, Bhatia, who along with co-founder Jack Smith, sold the email service toMicrosoft in 1997 for $400 million, explains the need for the re-branding, which he insists, is not the "phasing out of Hotmail," but a move targeted towards rejuvenating, what was once regarded as a mainstay of the internet in the late 90s.
What's your reaction to the news that Microsoft in re-branding Hotmail? Is this, in fact, the final phasing out of Hotmail?

"I am absolutely delighted with Microsoft's decision to re-brand Hotmail. Hotmail is certainly not being killed off, but is being enhanced with a host of new features that will allow it to reach out to bigger and wider audience."

What does Hotmail represent in today's tech culture? Is it still regarded as an icon?

"Absolutely. Even today, taking into account all metrics, Hotmail has almost 400 million unique users. It has more users that Gmail and Yahoo! which have been hugely popular as well, especially the former over the past few years. Hotmail was a pioneer in the email space, and has held up very well even as the technology landscape continues to change at a stratospheric pace.

Why was the re-branding of Hotmail required then, given that it still commands so many users?

"Google came and changed a lot of the rules.Gmail offered faster email services, unlimited space, cloud services. Hotmail continues to do well, but Microsoft has made the right decision to upgrade and re-brand it, in order to reach newer and younger consumers, especially at a time when social networking has had such a colossal impact on popular culture.

Outlook.com will be the total communications package - live video, live chat, and integrated with Skype, LinkedIn. Its interface will allow the user to do so much more. They can work on Office applications such Word, PowerPoint and Excel, and will have greater integration with mobile devices.