Or, as the Microsoft blog post announcing the move put it:

“… you can already chat with your Facebook and Skype friends. But we heard that some of you who switched over from Gmail still want to chat with friends stuck on Gmail. Today, we’re excited to announce that you can now also chat with your Google friends.” (Emphasis is mine.)

And lest you still think we’ve entered a new era of good feelings, remember that Microsoft’s Scroogled campaign is still active, as I was reminded by one of my colleagues.

So, if you’re reading an email from a Gmail user, you can reply with a chat icon from your Outlook.com inbox. Or, if you and your Google-oriented buddy are collaborating on a document in Microsoft Skydrive (as opposed to, say, Google Drive), you can send an instant message to your Google contact with the click of a button. Microsoft is also rolling out Google Chat integration.

Basically, Microsoft is asking its Outlook.com users to use its automated process to connect with all their contacts on other services.

The timing is interesting here. Tomorrow, Google kicks off its big Google I/O conference in San Francisco. And, Microsoft is coming off a rather rocky migration of millions of its Hotmail users to Outlook.com. (To be fair, Google Drive has seen its own share of snafus lately.)

To be sure, Microsoft Office remains the desktop productivity giant but given this move, it’s clear it’s feeling pressure from Google Apps and Gmail.

This story was updated at 7:07 PDT to add the Scroogled reference.

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That’s instead of Apple’s default solution, which would be to link to YouTube on the web, Safari and Apple Maps, respectively.

It should come as welcome news to heavy users of Google services or those who simply want to be able to pick what apps to connect to on their phone. It’s also, as CNET noted, a sort of “end run” around Apple’s services. Even as Apple has decoupled its iPhone partnership with Google for everything except search — removing YouTube and Google Maps as default iOS apps in the second half of 2012 — the web company has still found a way to reach its users who have iPhones and iPads through Apple’s regulated App Store.

The Gmail update comes a week after the introduction of Google Now for iOS as part of the Google Search app. That service also takes advantage of Google services users’ activity across a variety of Google apps, including those used in iOS.

Google isn’t alone among Apple’s competitors who have aspirations of this kind: Amazon and Facebook have also been able to build a series of apps that can act as replacements for Apple’s core iOS services, from music and videos to making phone calls and texting.

Apple certainly benefits by being able to offer the most popular services and apps on its platform, but at some point it must be concerning for Apple that the most basic services of its flagship device are being bypassed by superior apps coming from its fiercest competitors.

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The end result is that Nook HD users will have access to a broader media ecosystem, but the move seems a bit odd for a company that has a strategic partnership with Microsoft. However, Jim Hilt, B&N’s VP of ebooks, said the move only shows that Barnes & Noble remains committed to the Android platform. The company has done a “tremendous amount of work with Windows 8,” he said, and the decision to further integrate with Google is “consistent with our business, which has always been to bring the Nook reading or content service to all the platforms available.”

Google Play also sells ebooks and digital magazines, but Hilt said that B&N isn’t worried about that: “We’re incredibly confident that when people pick up a Nook device, they’re going to use the Nook shopping experience.”

Nook Video, which sells movies and TV shows à la carte, will continue, the company said.

Current Nook HD owners will receive an over-the-air update to their devices.

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As a reporter, email is one of the most important tools of my job: for communicating with sources, my editors and colleagues, companies I cover, receiving news tips, and more. Admittedly, my current email work flow is pretty awful. And I know I should get better about managing my email, especially on my phone, where I check it roughly 500 times a day. Still, I can’t get myself to let go of my bad habits.

It’s weird too: when it comes to mobile mail, today is one of the best times in recent memory to find a better solution. My Twitter feed has been filled with glowing reviews from many people who’ve tried Mailbox. And I love Taskbox’s motto: “make [email] something people don’t dread and people feel in control of.” So I gave Mailbox a go. The experiment lasted less than a week (it still tells me I have 22,200 unread emails). I also gave Taskbox a try for at least two weeks for my work email only (current unread email count a slightly less intimidating 722). Both seem like great products, but I realized I don’t have the patience to get into either of them. I don’t think it’s anything to do with those apps themselves — which plenty of people seem to love — but about the idea of change to a routine that is so critical to modern work — and life.

My inability to stomach change is even more ridiculous because of how awful my current email work flow is both on my desktop and my iPhone. I use Gmail’s color-coded labels, which is plenty useful. But if I get an important email that I know requires my response but not immediately, I “star” it and mark it as unread.

It was Andrew Eye, CEO of Taskbox, who jokingly pointed out to me how broken email is: if “the only way to stay organized in email is to lie to yourself” that you haven’t read something when you actually have.

He’s right! But still — the idea of learning a new system of email, whether it’s by prioritizing items or “snoozing” them kind of freaks me out. I can’t miss an important email or misplace one even temporarily put it in a folder where I’m not immediately sure how to find it.

And, no, I’m not completely averse to change when it comes to my digital life. I don’t participate in the massive freakout when Facebook makes one of its inevitable design changes. I was plenty adventurous about trying out several new calendaring apps; getting deadlines right is also critical to my job, but I was able to successfully switch over to Sunrise from my iPhone’s basic calendar app.

But totally altering my mobile email routine seems like rebuilding the plane in mid-flight: there is never a good time for change.

I don’t think I’m alone either. Email is something people are super sensitive to altering. Even Google had a rough time rolling out too many changes at once: at one point even the labels feature was too much for non-power users to adopt.

Labels are standard now for a lot of email users, including me. And that gives me hope that some day I’ll find a service that’s able to drag me along to better email habits. But for the foreseeable future, I’ll be at inbox 22,000.

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It’s easy to forget that it wasn’t always this way. Remember when you had to delete emails before receiving new ones? Back in the late ’90s, providers like Hotmail and Yahoo allowed users on a couple of megabytes—essentially, the size of a single song.

From Hotmail to Gmail to Dropbox, here’s a look back at some of the key moments in the evolution of free online storage.

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The support extension is a boon for Microsoft because it without EAS support in Gmail, any Windows Phone users with Gmail accounts would experience a far more limiting experience for mail, calendar events and contact management.

Why is Google even dropping EAS support? For starters, it’s not free: Google — or any company that wants to use Exchange ActiveSync — pays a licensing fee to Microsoft. That’s not the primary reason though, else Google would cease all Sync support. Instead, it will still provide it to Google Apps for Business, Government and Education users.

Google does, however, use the IMAP mail protocol, CalDAV for calendar information and CardDAV for contacts. This trio provides much of the same support currently available through EAS but through a non-company standard; these are more open protocols used on the web. The extra time for Sync allows Microsoft to rework its mail client with these three protocols so that Gmail users on Windows Phone won’t see a service disruption.

Also of note: I noticed in passing the BlackBerry Z10 handset that runs BlackBerry 10 already supports IMAP, CalDav and CardDAV, in addition to the standard Gmail account setup. That means Gmail users considering a new BlackBerry don’t even have to worry about Google Sync.

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As is usually the case, reports of the outage erupted on Twitter. One user in Austin, Texas said her service had been down for “hours at a time for two days.” She said Hotmail support attributed the issue to system updates. Other Hotmail users reported no problems.

Hotmail, a free basic email service which Microsoft said this summer would be transitioned into a new Outlook.com brand over the next few months, competes with Google’s Gmail and Yahoo mail in the consumer email market. Users on both Hotmail and Outlook.com sites were impacted Tuesday.

Update: See this updated story for more information about Hotmail/Outlook.com problems.

Another update: And, here is another update, on May 2, 2013, Microsoft said the Hotmail-to-Outlook.com migration is complete. Feel free to comment there.

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I gathered data from online app services like AppShopper.com, 148Apps.biz and Apple’s own Search API in order to gain some insight as to what each company has accomplished in 2012.  Each app listed under the company’s name was counted, along with the latest release date, category, number of updates made in 2012, whether or not the app was introduced as a new in 2012, as well as their peak ranking within each app’s respective category.  Here is what I found:

Google – With more than 26 apps in the App Store today, 12 of which have held top 10 most-downloaded spots in the last 30 days, you can begin to see that Google is not solely dependent on Android when it comes to mobile platforms.  Google introduced nine new iOS apps in 2012 like YouTube, Maps, Chrome and Drive, many of which were immediately well-received by Apple’s customers.

Setting the bar for mobile development on Apple’s iOS platform, Google entered into 2012 with an already-strong portfolio of apps in the App Store.  When Apple forced Google’s hand in 2012 by excluding YouTube and Maps from the iOS 6 release, Google responded in kind by delivering two great apps in their place.  The only thing really missing from its lineup is a native music app that can access Google’s online music service.

Yahoo! – Early in 2012, Yahoo! announced that it was pulling several seldom-used app from the App Store.  This move however did not mark the end of Yahoo on the App Store.  By introducing eight news apps in 2012, its total number of apps is currently at 15.  Managing 66 releases, Yahoo has been able to adapt as it currently has 10 apps that have held top 100 positions in the respective categories in the last 30 days. 

An area where Yahoo thrives that Google does not is sports content. By focusing a lot of attention on their successful series of Fantasy sports titles, Yahoo has had quite a year re-defining itself on Apple’s mobile platform.  With its major services like Mail, Messenger and Search well represented as native apps, the introduction of its own branded browser in 2012, and a well received Flickr for iOS redesign, Yahoo is proving to be a much better organized mobile development shop.  While the rest of Yahoo may be in a state of chaos, its iOS team appears to have gained a clearer vision of what mobile means to Yahoo in 2012.

Microsoft – Leading the pack with the most new iOS apps of these four companies, Microsoft added an additional 13 apps to the App Store in 2012, bringing its total to 29.  But it hasn’t seen the same broadly popular reception as its rivals: While almost half of its apps have held top 100 positions in their respective categories in the last 30 days, not one of them has been in in the top 10.  Microsoft needs to step up its game a bit to add new features to its iOS app lineup if it is looking to break into the top 10 with a must-have app.

Despite the introduction of its Windows Phone 8 introduced in 2012, Microsoft clearly has not abandoned Apple’s mobile platform for its own. Microsoft is choosing cater to its Xbox audience in particular on Apple’s platform — it has the highest number of gaming apps for iOS out of the four.  With Office for iOS just around the corner in 2013, there’s hope for Microsoft to have a megahit — outside of its Xbox franchise – on iOS very soon.

AOL – If you just look at the number of app upgrades and releases AOL has managed in 2012 (98!), you would think that it has one of the hardest-working iOS development shops around.  Despite that, this year the theme was simplification: the company managed to clean house by removing several of the 49 apps it had introduced since the first day the App Store was open.  Holding on to just 28 apps overall, AOL has seen nine apps achieve top 100 status.  Two of which, MapQuest and TechCrunch, have held the No. 1 and No. 2 positions in their respective categories in the last month.

One thing you should notice about AOL’s app lineup is the inclusion of dedicated news apps for services like Engaget, TechCrunch and TUAW.  With good amount of news, weather and information services in there lineup, AOL appears to be focusing on what it’s good at: content delivery more than its core search, mail and chat services.  AOL also has a decent music presence with SHOUTcast, PLAY and its own AOL Radio apps.

Most app activity in 2012

Overall, it is clear that each company has aggressively embraced and developed apps for Apple’s mobile platform that they feel are important to their customers.  While Google may have set the iOS app development bar in 2011 by already having a strong presence in the top 10 for so many of the apps they have developed, it does not appear as if the other three followed Google’s example.  While Google opted to double down on iOS development by continuing its focus on creating a native version of its online services, the other three looked to promote their content.  Microsoft is catering to gaming customers, Yahoo has focused more on sports, and AOL is leading the way with news, entertainment and lifestyle information.  While Yahoo has definitely made great strides in turning its mobile agenda around in 2012, it is Microsoft with its 13 new apps and AOL with its 98 releases and updates that were the most aggressive in 2012.  Each of the four have cemented a solid foundation with a much clearer vision in 2012 for what they intend to accomplish in the year to come.

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This week, the company published a recruiting video for an in-house iOS developer team, as noted by 9to5Mac. This video is just the latest part of a recent push from Google emphasizing its commitment to Apple’s platform after its Google Maps and YouTube apps were dumped from their default presence on iOS devices this summer. Google acted shocked and semi-insecure (publicly, at least) when Apple made it known that both apps would no longer come preinstalled on its devices.

Away from the public war of words, Google has not only recovered from the fallout, but has come roaring back and embraced its status as just another developer working on Apple’s platform — and one that’s trying to best Apple at its own game. You can see this outward confidence in the new video, which invites iOS developers to come “do cool things that matter.“

Google isn’t just making cool apps that people like on a competing platform, such as its Android mobile OS. It’s making well-liked apps that are core to the functionality of its rival’s devices. By improving on Apple’s Mail, Maps, Safari, Camera and Siri with apps of its own, Google is successfully beginning to wedge itself between the iPhone and iPad maker and its customers. And in the process, it’s begun to build its own lot of loyal iPhone and iPad users.

The last three months, in fairly quick succession we saw:

• Google’s own voice-enabled Search app for iOS
• A redesigned Gmail 2.0 app
• A new (long-awaited) YouTube app for iPad
• The maps saga come to an end with a brand new Google Maps, which saw 10 million downloads in 48 hours
• And a YouTube recording app called Capture, which targets Apple’s own Camera app

And this list doesn’t include other popular, earlier releases in 2012 like Chrome for iOS, and YouTube for iPhone. As has been previously noted by the Next Web, the new design language Google is using in these apps is very, very good. It’s quite clear that Google is swiftly getting better at mobile design.

And it’s not an accident: the company’s iOS development team has cultivated a specific look and feel for its products on Apple’s platform. Now it’s devoting and building whole teams to creating apps for iOS. After years of internal debate over the role of apps or websites as the best home for Google services on mobile devices, it’s become pretty clear that those within Google advocating for better apps have prevailed.

People are starting to take notice of Google’s improvement at the same time that Apple’s design chops have been taking some heat. When Apple releases a new app these days, its design is nitpicked to death, and complaints about gaudy textures, poor functionality, and confusing design details get the design community and users in a huff. The Apple Maps disaster is just one example. But Podcasts, Siri, Calendar, Game Center and more have also been met with criticism.

2013 is going to be a year when Apple must prove itself again in many ways: can its leaders improve the company in the eye of investors? Can it come up with more revolutionary products that keep customers coming back? Can it continue to stave off tablet challengers?

And now with Google’s full-court press on iOS, another big thing we’ll be watching for is whether Apple’s internal reorganization can produce basic apps that are core to its own device’s experience and will defend and reassert Apple’s design strengths.

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