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Microsoft will rebrand MSN News to Microsoft News on Android (Updated)
Update (06/20): Microsoft has officially announced the relaunch and rebranding of the old MSN News app as Microsoft News. It includes features like a dark theme, a way to customize what news you view on the app, breaking news alerts, and more.
Microsoft News is also the name for the engine that will power the MSN.com website, the news apps in Windows 10, Skype, Xbox and Outlook.com, and the News section on the Microsoft Edge web browser. The company is working with over 1,000 news publishers and more than 3,000 brands to collect and aggregate the best news for use in its websites and apps. Microsoft’s AI program scans the content to pick out the most current and accurate news. Human editors will also curate the top news stories throughout the day.
Original article (06/13): There are four apps on the Google Play Store that bear the MSN moniker: MSN News, MSN Money, MSN Weather, and MSN Sports. It looks like at least one of these apps – MSN News – is going to be rebranded as Microsoft News, via OnMSFT.
The name change is confirmed by the latest MSN News Beta update, which now has an icon with the Microsoft News moniker.
The beta version of Microsoft’s news app features a brand new UI with a bottom navigation menu and a more straightforward layout. However, the beta app’s look has not yet seen a release to the general public.
The latest beta update to MSN News / Microsoft News also features a red icon, which brings it more in line with the Windows 10 app.
This branding change likely means that Microsoft is looking to at least scale back (if not end entirely) the MSN branding in favor of the more-recognizable Microsoft brand. Although the MSN.com website is still a popular destination on the web, the MSN branding is appearing on fewer and fewer products.
If you’d like to try out the new Microsoft News, you have to sign up as a beta tester. You can do so by visiting this website where you’ll automatically receive an update to the app on your device. If you don’t have the MSN News app yet, you’ll see a link to download it from the Google Play Store, which will then update to the beta version.
NEXT: Google News app hands-on: The be-all-end-all news aggregator