Microsoft has revealed that its Outlook Premium service is now generally available to users in the US.
The ad-free premium version of Outlook.com was initially launched in a preview mode with a select few users last year and now the service has ditched its ‘preview’ tag and become available to all users in the US. The price however still remains the same as it was during the preview at $19.95 for a year and $50 per year after that.
Users opting for a custom domain will have to shell out $10 but custom domain subscriptions are not available on a stand-alone basis; a concurrent Outlook.com Premium subscription is required, the company says on its website.
The current offer price of $19.95 will be available till March this year after which users will be required to shell out the regular price of $50 per year. The service has still been kept exclusive to the US customers and company hasn’t provided any details if it plans to roll it out to other countries.
Outlook Premium, apart from ad-free inbox, also provides better calendar sharing, among other premium features. Most notably, it brings support for up to five new custom domain accounts, a feature which was removed by the company in 2014 from Outlook.com. The subscription for the premium version will auto-renew annually at “then current prices” and there will be an additional charge for the custom domain, the company has mentioned on its website’s FAQ (frequently asked questions) page.
The company has already clarified that the premium version will only support up to five custom domains, and users who are interested in more can instead opt for Office 365 Business Essentials. Further, the custom domains will be cancelled as soon as the users cancel their subscription to Outlook Premium.
