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Microsoft Confirms Acquisition of Calendar App Sunrise

The company posted a YouTube video, since made private, confirming the deal. An announcement was originally planned for later in the week.

Kara Swisher

Microsoft is excited to be branching deeper into iOS and Android apps.

So excited, in fact, that the company can’t seem to keep from talking about its deals ahead of time.

On Tuesday morning, the company posted a YouTube video confirming its purchase of calendar app Sunrise, a video it quickly made private. It’s not a shocker since word of the deal leaked out last week.

However, it wasn’t planning to make the announcement until later this week. (It eventually decided to speed things up, announcing the deal in blog posts mid-morning. See below.)

Microsoft had a similar case of premature excitement last year when it posted a blog notice early announcing its acquisition of email service Acompli.

News timing gaffes aside, the moves show that Microsoft is really serious about bringing its services to rival platforms, a key part of the strategy undertaken by CEO Satya Nadella even as the company attempts to move forward with its own Windows Phone efforts.

Sunrise has a popular calendar app for iOS, Android and Mac, making it a natural complement to Acompli’s email strength as Microsoft seeks to expand Outlook for mobile devices.

Update, 11:55 am PT: Microsoft and Sunrise confirmed the deal in blogs on their respective sites. Terms of the deal were not announced.

“We are making this acquisition because we believe a reinvention in the way people use calendars on mobile devices is long overdue,” Microsoft’s Rajesh Jha said in a blog post.

Sunrise’s co-founders, meanwhile, promised that the current apps for iOS, Android and Mac are not going away and added that as part of Microsoft it will continue to make the best apps for managing your time.

And, the company again made public the YouTube video it had earlier posted. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KhasPPLH7A

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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