Batter up
Look out! The new Outlook.com premium service is about to totally change the email game.
Microsoft was testing the service as a beta in October, and it has been in Preview mode until this week. It’s now up and running and available to users in the US.
Flashy features
Custom domain support
You can use your own domain, like SweaterVestLover.com, and add email addresses to that domain for up to five users.
Information sharing
Everyone on your SweaterVestLover.com email system can share contacts, calendars, and documents via OneDrive. These sharing relationships are automatically set up between people with email addresses on your domain, making this a convenient option for families and small businesses–or a closely-knit group of sweater vest enthusiasts.
Ad-free mail
Just like Ad-Free Outlook.com, the new premium service banishes banner ads from your inbox to make your email experience more productive and less annoying.
But my emails!!!
What if I don’t have a domain, you ask? No problem. You can create one through Microsoft, and it’s free for the first year, then $10 per month after that.
The premium tier service is only $19.95 per year, but if you want it you should snap it up now–after March 31 it’s back up to standard pricing of $49.99 per year.
Some may argue the service is a bit pricey for the average user considering you can create a custom domain for free with a basic browser plugin. However, Outlook.com Premium is not designed for the average user.
Rather, the service is ideal for groups of Outlook.com users who can leverage the collaborative functionality and ad-free experience to the fullest.
[clickToTweet tweet=”So if you think of it more like a 5-for-1 deal, it’s not so unreasonable. ” quote=”So if you think of it more like a 5-for-1 deal, it’s not so unreasonable. “]
Hop on board
Microsoft has been offering subscriptions for a few years, but after launching Windows 10 with its SaaS model, they’ve ramped up promotion of enterprise-grade subscriptions to both Windows and other programs like Groove, the music streaming service.
Outlook.com Premium may be the perfect solution for certain groups of people, and who knows?
Maybe down the road they’ll offer the same service at a lower rate for individuals, in case you can’t find enough people that love sweater vests as much as you do.
You can sign up for Outlook.com Premium at Microsoft’s site.
#outlookatmenow
Helen Irias is a Staff Writer at The American Genius with a degree in English Literature from University of California, Santa Barbara. She works in marketing in Silicon Valley and hopes to one day publish a comically self-deprecating memoir that people bring up at dinner parties to make themselves sound interesting.