Microsoft is planning to revamp its MSN portal. The web service has been available for consumers to use for more than a decade, providing insights into the latest headlines, favorite sports, searching through highlighted content on the web and checking emails. The company has published a preview website, showing off what's to come. Microsoft will also be bringing across its Bing apps – which are currently available on Windows and Windows Phone – to Android and iOS, rebranding them all under the MSN umbrella.
The new website integrates into a connected Microsoft account to offer a more personalized experience too. Browsers will be able to quickly check their Outlook.com account, OneDrive and even OneNote scribbles. Then there's Facebook, Twitter, Office 365 and Skype to really expand on external connectivity. It's a neat layout, which will be complimented by MSN apps available across the board.
To make things slightly more confusing for the consumer, Microsoft will be rebranding its Bing suite of apps to MSN. These apps are currently available on Microsoft platforms (without the Bing branding), but will be launched on competitor platforms in the future. It's an interesting switch since the company has previously left its MSN branding behind while Windows Live and Bing took to the stage, but it seems we could well be looking at a slight mix up to have everything synced across the MSN portal from said Bing (soon to be MSN) apps on multiple platforms.
Mobile-first, cloud-first indeed. Microsoft will be rolling out the design overhaul in the coming months. Check out the new preview site over on MSN and let us know what you think in the comments. Unable to load the preview? Turn your ad blocker extensions off.
Source: Microsoft; thanks to everyone who tipped us!
