Sunrise Calendar

Sunrise is a discontinued electronic calendar application for mobile and desktop. The service was launched in 2013 by designers Pierre Valade and Jeremy Le Van. In October 2015, Microsoft announced that they had merged the Sunrise Calendar team into the larger Microsoft Outlook team where they will work closely with the Microsoft Outlook Mobile service.[1]

History

The first iteration of Sunrise launched in 2012 and was a daily email digest of appointments, events and birthdays.[2]

Sunrise was launched initially as an iPhone application on February 19, 2013.[3][4]

In June 2013, Sunrise raised $2.2 million (~$ in )[5] in venture funding from Resolute.vc,[6] NextView Ventures, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, SV Angel, and other angel investment firms like Loïc Le Meur, Dave Morin, Fabrice Grinda.

In May 2014, Sunrise launched on Android as well as on the web via a web application.[7]

In July 2014, Sunrise announced[8] it had raised $6 million (~$ in ) Series A from Balderton Capital. Bernard Liautaud joined the board.[9]

On February 11, 2015, Sunrise Atelier, Inc. was acquired by Microsoft for US$100 million (~$ in ).[10]

On October 28, 2015, Microsoft announced that Sunrise would be discontinued, and its functionality merged into Outlook Mobile.[11] Microsoft later stated that the app would permanently cease functioning on August 31, 2016,[12] but the shutdown was delayed to September 13, 2016, to coincide with an update to Outlook Mobile that incorporates aspects of Sunrise into its calendar interface.[13][14]

Features

Sunrise allowed users to connect with Google Calendar, iCloud calendar and with Exchange Server. The following third-party services featured integration with Sunrise: Foursquare, GitHub, TripIt, Asana, Evernote, Google Tasks, Trello, Songkick, and Wunderlist. As a web app, users could sign-in and use Sunrise in a web browser, with no downloads required. A native Sunrise app could also be downloaded for OS X 10.9 and later, iOS 8.0 and later (both iPhone and iPad) as well as Android phones and tablets.

In May 2015, Sunrise launched Meet, a keyboard for Android and iOS that lets users select available time slots in their calendar to schedule one-to-ones.[15]

References

  1. Mark Coppock. Microsoft's Sunrise team helps improve new iOS and Android Outlook apps. Even though the Sunrise Calendar team has been integrated with the Microsoft Team, there have been no significant changes to the Microsoft Outlook app to resemble Sunrise Calendar. iOS update due today, Android in early November, Windows phone "coming soon" WinBeta, 28 October 2015^
  2. Alan Henry. Sunrise Starts Your Day with an Email Digest of Your Appointments, Events, and Birthdays Lifehacker, retrieved 2018-07-23^
  3. Ellis Hamburger. Sunrise for iPhone: a next-generation calendar app plugged in to Facebook and Google The Verge, February 19, 2013, retrieved January 6, 2015^
  4. Romain Dillet. Sunrise Brilliantly Redefines Calendar Apps On iOS TechCrunch, February 19, 2013, retrieved January 6, 2015^
  5. Romain Dillet. Sunrise Raises $2.2 Million Because "It Is The Only Calendar App With A Design-Oriented Approach" TechCrunch, June 4, 2013, retrieved January 6, 2015^
  6. Matt Meeker. Backing Sunrise Resolute.vc, June 4, 2013, retrieved January 6, 2015^
  7. Ellis Hamburger. Sunrise is the first great calendar app for Android and Web The Verge, Vox Media, May 29, 2014, retrieved July 22, 2014^
  8. Pierre Valade. Building the future of calendar, with you. Sunrise, February 19, 2013, retrieved July 22, 2014^
  9. Bernard Liautaud. Why we invested in Sunrise.Am Balderton Capital, July 22, 2014, retrieved January 6, 2015^
  10. Darrell Etherington. Microsoft Confirms Sunrise Acquisition, Adds Depth To Its Mobile Productivity Offerings TechCrunch, AOL, 11 February 2015^
  11. Microsoft To Shut Down Sunrise Mobile Calendar After Integration Into Outlook Completes TechCrunch, 28 October 2015, retrieved 28 October 2015^
  12. Tom Warren. Microsoft is killing its Sunrise calendar app on August 31st The Verge, 11 May 2016^
  13. Tom Warren. Microsoft isn't killing the Sunrise calendar app just yet The Verge, 1 September 2016^
  14. Microsoft Outlook's mobile app just added Sunrise's best features The Verge, Vox Media, 13 September 2016, retrieved 15 September 2016^
  15. Romain Dillet. Sunrise Launches Meet, A Sleek Feature To Schedule Meetings From Your Phone Techcrunch, May 14, 2015^