In memoriam
Sunrise Calendar
Born 2013. Died 31 August 2016.
Sunrise Calendar, the mobile scheduling application that briefly made the management of time feel like a considered and even pleasurable act, ceased operation on the thirty-first of August 2016. It was three years in service. Founded in New York by Pierre Valade and Jeremy Le Van, Sunrise distinguished itself by aggregating calendars, contacts, and application data into a single, legible view at a moment when such coherence was rare. It was acquired by Microsoft in February 2015 for a reported one hundred million dollars.
Microsoft dissolved the application the following year, absorbing what it could into Outlook Mobile. The transplant did not take. Those who had depended on Sunrise found its successor adequate in function and absent in feeling — a not uncommon epitaph for the acquired dead.
As of August 31, Sunrise will no longer be available.
Acquired and neglected
Mourned by Mourned by professionals, creatives, and early adopters who had organised their days around its quiet intelligence.
Its gestures and integrations live on, imperfectly, within Microsoft Outlook Mobile, where they are seldom noticed.