Microsoft quietly extended the deadline for Outlook.com Premium promotional pricing to the end of June. So you have plenty of time to save big on this interesting service.

As you may recall, I recently explained that this promotional pricing, which lowers the annual cost of the service from $49.95 to $19.95, was set to expire on March 31. On the eve of that expiration, however, Microsoft quietly changed the date: Now, the promotional pricing ends June 30, 2017.

Perhaps they’re working through a soft launch here and will eventually begin touting Outlook.com Premium. But to date, Microsoft has never said anything officially about this service, or about its general release. So here I am, doing Microsoft PR. This is a moment of great self-reflection, I assure you.

But I’m OK with it in this case, because Outlook.com Premium is pretty cool. (And yes, I’m a subscriber.) The service came out of preview in February, providing subscribers with custom domain support for up to five users, automated information sharing between calendars, contacts, and OneDrive-based documents, with an ad-free inbox for all users.

Given that Microsoft’s Ad-Free Inbox service for Outlook.com is $20 by itself, Outlook.com’s promotional pricing is sort of a no-brainer, especially when you read the fine print: “Your Outlook.com Premium subscription will auto-renew annually at $19.95”; right: It’s not just $19.99 for the first year. It’s perpetual.

But the issue up-front was that Outlook.com Premium was available only in the United States. Fortunately, as of March, that changed, and the service is now available in several other countries, including Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore, and the United Kingdom (Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

So breathe easy, folks. Read up on how Outlook.com Premium really works. And then go for it. At a more relaxed pace.

Tagged with Outlook Premium