Microsoft is planning on turning its email service, Outlook.com into a paid service. It would be available as a premium service with a subscription fee. Currently, in the Beta stage, the new service is called Outlook.com Premium and can be availed or joined only through an invite. Interested users can let Microsoft know their intention of availing this service by filling in this form here.
According to Thurrott, a recently leaked page revealed that Outlook.com Premium may be available for $3.99, and most likely this subscription fee will be for the first month or maybe for the first year, they have also speculated that Microsoft can also offer their Premium email service as a part of much coveted Office 365 to new subscribers or may offer it as a tryout for already existing Office 365 subscribers. It doesn’t matter how the company will offer and charge for it, but this would be one of its kind service and that too from such a big email service provider.
$3.99 for an email service may sound costly but a look at the features of this premium service may change your ‘outlook’. Microsoft will offer some new options in the Premium that have not been yet seen in the free version like it will offer you a maximum of five personalized email addresses and there will be no advertisement to bother you or distract you from your work.
This will offer users a very new and cleanest possible work experience, and it will be available at a very affordable cost. In addition to this , Outlook.com Premium may also come with some better calendar tools and scheduler options along with some other pretty cool features that will be available only on premium service.
There hasn’t been any official confirmation yet about the launch date of Outlook.com Premium from Microsoft, but as it has already been stated that Microsoft is already testing it, so we may expect some news in the coming weeks. As nothing is official yet, so it is very much possible that Microsoft may change the pricing or add/remove some aforementioned features from it. We’ll keep you posted, till then, stay tuned.