Microsoft silently released a new productivity app for both Android and Apple users in a project they call the Project Sonoma. The app is being aimed at non office workers, which will include people offering services such as waiters, shift workers, and other workers who have to keep track of a changing schedule. It is also a way for these workers to interact with each other.
Tech giant denies Project Sonoma rumors
The company did not make any official announcements to launch the app on the App Stores. They said that the company was still in private mode and wasn’t being made public at the moment. The firm says the app is in the private preview mode at the time being and there is shortlist of businesses which want to make use of the app.
Project Sonoma, which at the moment sounds like a code name more than an official name for the app, is in many ways similar to Slack in its ability to give users the opportunity to chat. However, the app is more inclined to give the users a chance to work through their schedules with ease rather than the collaboration part.
The app’s main screen has three main sections which include My Shifts, Requests, and Messages. The first screen gives users a chance to look at their schedules and track to see their shift beginning and closing times. Requests give them the chance to make shift changes by asking their workmates or the manager. The messages part is just one simple way where they can interact with their workmates and also get important updates from the managers and people alike.
Rumors and reports swirling around indicated that the app might have been as a result of an acquisition or an acqui-hire by Microsoft. On the Google Android Store, the URL on the website showed that it also included the words Shiftr. This also turns out to be the name of one Sydney based app called Shiftr and which also runs the same employee scheduling technique on its app. The companies website has also gone offline showing only a blank page. However, Microsoft still denied the notion that they had bought up the company for its new app.
A basic website which shows Project Sonoma information is available on the Internet. It also serves as a way for users to sign up for the wait list to use the app.
A spokesperson for the company said that Project Sonoma was an app that was being tested with few business partners. The app allows users to view and manage their work shifts from their phones. The spokesperson also said that they were not going to reveal the names of the businesses involved at the moment. The spokesperson noted that the app had been built from within the company and it had nothing to do with an acquisition.
