Yeah, looks like it's a platform, a.k.a. an API around your existing email. From a business and interoperability perspective, building a platform is definitely a good move. They'll be able to create an "email App Store" for developers to publish apps built on their platform, and they can take a cut of revenue.
I imagine the play here is to 1) build the API, 2) build a pluggable skeleton of a frontend, 3) chase the enterprise for huge swaths of customers with unique email needs (hence the emphasis on Exchange servers), and 4) recruit developers with the value prop of making money building apps on the API and selling them to enterprise customers.
I suspect the final product will look more like Google apps than it will gmail. And if the API is nice, they'll get developers, who will build unique apps, which in turn will convince enterprise customers to sign on. Acquiring customers will be especially easy if it doesn't require swapping out their email backends.
I imagine the play here is to 1) build the API, 2) build a pluggable skeleton of a frontend, 3) chase the enterprise for huge swaths of customers with unique email needs (hence the emphasis on Exchange servers), and 4) recruit developers with the value prop of making money building apps on the API and selling them to enterprise customers.
I suspect the final product will look more like Google apps than it will gmail. And if the API is nice, they'll get developers, who will build unique apps, which in turn will convince enterprise customers to sign on. Acquiring customers will be especially easy if it doesn't require swapping out their email backends.