Have room for another rebranding effort from Redmond? You better! Because the company has today introduced Microsoft Store, an evolution of its existing Microsoft News service.
This is a platform that uses content from the MSN.com news aggregator portal, of course.
No relation to the Start.com web-based RSS aggregator that Microsoft launched as an experiment all the way back in 2005, but closed two years year.
This new direction is basically a rebrand of the MSN News and Microsoft News services, unifying them both under a single umbrella. This new name will replace the existing branding across all areas like the Edge browser.
Microsoft CVP Liat Ben-Zur explains that this personalized news feed and collection of informational content comes from over a thousand global premium publishers. Users will be able to refine the algorithm by choosing articles or publishers that they like or dislike.
“Microsoft Start brings new technology to content experiences, including Microsoft’s latest advancements in AI and machine learning, coupled with human moderation, to help people stay up to date with information that is personalized for their interests.”
Overall, the experience should look quite familiar for people coming from the existing Microsoft News service. Preferences set by the users on the desktop will sync with the mobile apps — as long as they are connected to the Microsoft account.
With the branding change just having begun rolling out, both the Android and iOS versions of the Microsoft News app will soon receive an update that reflect it.
As for the service itself, there is not much that is new in the way of features. In addition to news items, Start will also provide users with cards relating to weather, finance, sports, navigation information and more.
Microsoft Edge can be accessed from Edge and Chrome at the MicrosoftStart.com website, on mobile via native Android and iOS apps, and on Windows 10 and Windows 11 through the News and Interests column and the news widget respectively.
