ROSY OUTLOOK. Microsoft's new mail service gets 1.5-M new accounts in 12 hours. Screen shot from Outlook.com

MANILA. Philippines - On February 18, Microsoft announced the official launch of Outlook.com out of preview status and the coming transition from Hotmail to Outlook.com as a service.

Microsoft's senior director of product management, Dharmesh Mehta, told TechCrunch more than 1.5 million new accounts were made since the announcement.

Mehta explained: "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.” He adds that the new adopters made these accounts without Microsoft sending emails announcing the new service to Hotmail users."

A Microsoft spokesperson mentioned to TechCrunch that the Outlook.com adopters "are a mix of Hotmail upgrades, switchers from Gmail and other services, and people opening new accounts."

While it remains to be seen if the service will retain the user base who came in on the launch rush, the early adoption from a broad range of users does seem to be a heartening indication of interest for Outlook.com. - Rappler.com