Hotmail’s Growth Hacking Secret That Earned Them $400 Million
Although Microsoft relaunched Hotmail as Outlook in 2012, its success allowed MS to start with a huge user base
Once upon a time, only a few decades ago, we used to have landline phones to connect with our friends and family. Even those were not that available in all areas. Our other mode of communication was writing letters. In this era of instant messaging and email services, it’s hard to imagine how we could communicate with others when a letter would take days to get a reply. That was how it was. With the advent of email, all started to change.
Yet there was a time when an email could only be accessed through a desktop using dedicated software. That started to change in 1996 when Apple employees Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith wanted a platform to keep their private messages hidden from their boss. It led to the creation that blossomed into Hotmail.
The product
Hotmail, the first free web-based email service, opened the email to a wider group of people. Prior to that, only a handful group of people including university students, corporate employees, and some with ISP-provided email IDs could use email. Hotmail allowed the general public to access email.
