Microsoft’s Outlook.com gains 1.5M new users in 12 hours

Microsoft’s Outlook.com gained more than 1.5 million new users in the first 12 hours after official launch

Microsoft recently announced that its new webmail service Outlook.com is now available for all after months of beta testing. It will also start to transition its huge Hotmail user base over its new interface and platform. That transition is expected to run in the next few months, when the old Hotmail interface will be retired and the currently optional upgrade will become mandatory.

During the first twelve hours since Outlook.com is released to the public, Microsoft’s senior director of product management Dharmesh Mehta shared with TechCrunch that more than 1.5 million users have already registered new accounts. He said:

“In the first twelve hours since Outlook.com left preview, we’re excited to see that 1.5 million new active accounts had been created. This spike in adoption happened prior to sending emails to all Hotmail customers encouraging them to upgrade. It’s great to see so many people like what they see and making the choice to upgrade to Outlook.com.”

According to the article on TechCrunch, the new accounts consist of Hotmail upgrades, switchers from Gmail and other services, and people opening new accounts.

Here’s the official description of Microsoft Account, which is the unique ID you use to sign into Microsoft’s suite of services:

“Microsoft account” is the new name for what used to be called a “Windows LiveID.” Your Microsoft account is the combination of an email address and a password that you use to sign in to services like Hotmail, Messenger, SkyDrive,Windows Phone, Xbox LIVE, or Outlook.com. If you use an email address and password to sign in to these or other services, you already have a Microsoft account—but you can also sign up for a new one at any time.

So, will you use the new Outlook email account?