Hotmail Numbers, Facts, and Figures

In prepping my review of the new Hotmail over the past week, I started noticing that there were a lot of interesting numbers being tossed around in the meetings I had with Microsoft and in the materials they provided. So I created a simple document to collect them. Here they are:

370 million active Hotmail users worldwide

About 75 percent of Hotmail users--or over 275 million users--also use Messenger

350 million Office documents pass through Hotmail every month

Over 15 billion Office documents are stored in Hotmail right now

1.5 billion photos are delivered through Hotmail every month

New photo and Office document sharing limits in the new Hotmail: 10 GB of photos or documents per email message, up to 200 photos/documents, each up to 50 MB in size

Exchange ActiveSync compatibility is available on roughly 300 million phones worldwide

80 percent of mail reported as "spam" is not spam but is instead "junk mail" or "gray mail"

50 percent of the typical email inbox is unwanted mail of some kind (spam or junk mail)

Almost 90 percent of all web mail traffic online is spam

Today, only 4 percent of mail in an average Hotmail inbox is spam, down from 35 percent in 2006 (Using Gmail metrics, it's just 1 percent)

Getting rid of spam is email users' number one feature request. Number two is the inability to send large attachments. Number three: Junk mail and clutter reduction

Every user gets unlimited storage capacity in the new Hotmail

Discuss this Article 18

rr0de74@live.com
on May 18, 2010

Paul great review of Hotmail.  I am with out a doubt switching back from Gmail...and not renewing MobileMe later this year.

Do you know when the ActiveSync will start working?  Or if it is how do you set it up as in the settings for mail server and such?

I think you should redo your comparison of options that you did a while back, Live vs Google vs Mobileme vs Yahoo?

jctierney
on May 18, 2010

It's amazing how underraed Hotmail is. I use the service everyday and find that it suits my needs perfectly, but then, I think that may be the point. So many people use it and it just works, so they have nothing to say about.

I tried switching to a Gmail account, as so many touted it as being all-the-rage, but I eventually returned to using my MSN/Hotmail account, it just seems like a better overall platform, IMO.

Spiggy73
on May 18, 2010

I admit I use both gmail and hotmail but for the opposite purposes to Paul.  Gmail is my send all junk here location and hotmail (2 accounts) is my goto email app of choice.  For me Live Services offer it all in one place, Blogging (Spaces), Cloud Storage (Skydrive), Photos, MSN, and of course email.  By the way Gladinet makes Skydrive better.  Can't wait until Microsoft integrates skydrive into the OS.

de Silentio
on May 18, 2010
What do you mean by "using GMail metrics"?
pthurrott
on May 18, 2010
ActiveSync should become available around mid-to-late June. The "Gmail metrics" comments means, "measured the way Google measures."
de Silentio
on May 18, 2010
RE: GMail Metrics, That's what I thought. So does GMail rate what some would call spam as Junk Mail? If so, do you know who is "more right" about what is and is not spam? What I'm getting at is if there is a marketing reason for saying that GMail has less Spam than, say, Hotmail.
Keleko
on May 18, 2010
What is the difference between junk mail and spam? To me, anything I don't want that is advertising related is spam.
clindhartsen
on May 18, 2010
To be honest, I use Hotmail every day as my main e-mail address and actually have used the filters, though they are buried, presently, where you would never look. It works, has a great companion w/ Windows Live Mail on the PC end, and just meets my needs. Looks like the updates are rather nice, can't wait to see some Wave 4 stuff become public.
gavers
on May 18, 2010
It'd be nice if they simplified the name. But Hotmail is, by a wide margin, my favourite... especially the anti-spam filters.
Ocean
on May 18, 2010
Good review. I like the idea of quick views and active views, but: I'm so invested in their infrastructure: not just Gmail, but Reader and Calendar too (and Docs to a lesser extent), that changing will be very difficult for me. I'm sure this is what Google wants. Besides, Google is just going to copy the best parts of Hotmail anyway, just like their new Google Homepage takes a chunk away from the Bing homepage.
cwaters123
on May 18, 2010

I agree with the earlier comments. I've been a Hotmail / Outlook Express / Live Mail / Windows Live Mail / Outlook / Windows Mobile user for many years. This combination is far from perfect but I haven't found anything better. I have a Gmail account and have been trying to use it more often over the past year; I prefer some of its features, but not enough to switch completely.

I'm looking forward to this next iteration of Hotmail...as well as to future updates of Gmail.

Ocean
on May 18, 2010

Your users you send photos to from your skydrive have to have silverlight installed, otherwise they download the messages as attachments.

Backup77
on May 18, 2010

Nice write up Paul. Goes to show that even though Hotmail has been around a long time it can still be improved, simplified and nicely integrated with messenger and other Microsoft online services.

Waethorn
on May 18, 2010
The big questions here is: How is Hotmail's Activesync technology going to work with Windows Phone 7? Will WP7 include support for multiple Activesync accounts? Or will Hotmail be available as a separate option as it is in Windows Mobile? If so, will multiple Hotmail accounts be supported at the same time (it isn't in Windows Mobile)?
Dr. Daniel Jackson
on May 18, 2010
I hardly ever check my @msn.com email, beacuse I get 10-15 spams a day, you guys keep talking about filters, is that something I need to turn on, or install? I just use gmail, cuz it works with my android phone
whiplash55
on May 18, 2010
Hotmail has only one weakness in my view, it needs SSL encryption implemented by default from the time you first hit hotmail.com throughout your entire session.
Cfischer83
on May 18, 2010
How is junk mail different than spam? I think of spam as any unwanted messages including "junk".
thebluemeanie
on May 19, 2010
Does Hotmail still put ads at the bottom of all your emails? I have a Hotmail account that's mainly used for things that might get a bit spammy, but I haven't sent an email from it in a long time.

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