Microsoft is digging its feet in the news world with the launch of Microsoft News, representing not only a rebranding of its mobile apps but also signalling a consolidation of the company’s efforts.
Microsoft today announced the release of Microsoft News, described by the company as its „news engine that powers“ both its mobile apps and its iconic MSN.com site.
Practically, and on the consumer-facing side of things, the announcement is simply a rebrand of the company’s existing iOS and Android MSN News apps to Microsoft News. As for MSN.com, the company has chosen to retain its existing branding, though the site will be shown as being ‚powered by Microsoft News‘.
Under the hood, however, Microsoft News represents the company’s efforts in consolidating its various tools and services aimed at promulgating, aggregating and curating news. In the blog post announcing the change, the Editor in Chief of Microsoft News, Rob Bennet, boasted working partnerships with an impressive 3,000 brands and over 1,000 premium publishers, including the likes of The New York Times, The Washington Post, and BBC News.
Rather than simply aggregating news, the company is also planning on using its technological prowess to curate news using both human editors and artificial intelligence. Of emphasis is also the ability to personalise what you see in the company’s apps based on your location, interests and preferences, which will then be translated across the many Microsoft products you may use, such as Skype, Xbox, Outlook.com, and the start page in Microsoft Edge.
