Microsoft Corporation Have Acquired Mobile Data Labs As Part Of Mobile-First, Cloud-First Quest

Microsoft Corporation Acquires Mobile Data Labs As Part Of Mobile-First, Cloud-First Quest

Seems They are looking for where to spend their money this days, but not really, Microsoft Corporation has acquired Mobile Data Labs in a bid to improve its mobile productivity portfolio

Microsoft Corporation announced its acquisition of San Francisco based Mobile Data Labs, a company known for its popular mileage tracking app MileIQ. While the financial specifics of the deal were not disclosed, the aim of the deal is quite clear; to round out its existing mobile productivity portfolio in order to continue its push for relevance in ever growing demand of mobile devices.
The software giant’s Corporate Vice President of Outlook and Office 365, Rajesh Jha confirmed the acquisition in a blog post on Thursday, citing the deal as latest development towards the company’s ambition to “reinvent productivity and business process in a mobile-first, cloud-first world."


The San-Francisco based company was founded by Chuck Dietrich and Dan Bonze, and is known for its most popular iOS and Android tracking app, MileIQ, developed two years ago. The company claims that MileIQ delivers over $6500 of average deduction a year by successfully keeping a log of when the user is on the road, calculating the value and synching the mileage report with the user’s accounting software to calculate total expense for tax deductions purpose., by use of its Smart Drive Detention, Cloud Sync and Mileage Tracking features.


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Mobile Data Labs raised over $15 million earlier this year in couple of venture funding rounds from Google ventures, Trinity Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Home Ventures to name a few. According to Microsoft, the said flagship app of the company has been on the top grossing list for the past 20 months under finance section on Apple Store and Google Play since its launch. The company claims that MileIQ delivers over $6500 of average deduction a year by saving up hours in mileage that would have gone to waste.

Mr. Dietrich also confirmed the deal in a separate blogpost, stating that it is looking forward “to continue to build services for self-directed workers–services like MileIQ that are automated, intuitive and give users back time, money and peace of mind.”
"By partnering with Microsoft, our horizon and momentum are now even bigger–and our ability to deliver excellent products, delightful experiences and personalized service is greater than ever," Mr. Dietrich further added.
Microsoft has been emphasizing on its “mobile first, cloud-first” strategy since Satya Nadella took over as the Chief Executive Officer almost two years ago. Microsoft, of course isn’t the only company focusing on growing market share of mobile productivity portfolios. IBM, Salesforse and CRM have all been on the same bandwagon with similar acquisitions here and there.

The said acquisition points out towards Microsoft’s quest to pick technologies that it could funnel into its diverse portfolio of products to score a big hit. Apparently, the tech giant didn’t make the acquisition with a sole aim of adding MileIQ to its app portfolio, but it is looking to expands its horizon across iOS and Android platforms.
Moreover, interestingly enough, the app isn’t currently available on Windows phone and there are no signs from the company on such development.