Microsoft Continues to Court iOS Users with SkyDrive App

It’s not quite on the order of Microsoft Office, but Microsoft has been releasing a variety of applications in an effort to appeal to the iOS crowd. We’ve already covered the vendor’s efforts with Bing, and more recently Microsoft released OneNote for the iPad. Now from Microsoft is a version of SkyDrive for the iPhone. What does that mean for the mobile world as a whole? Good things …

If you haven’t noticed, DropBox, Box.net and various other cloud storage services are gaining considerable traction as mobile devices become more sophisticated and a larger part of our day-to-day routine. Microsoft doesn’t want to be left out of that loop, so enter SkyDrive, which is roughly equivalent to Microsoft’s version of DropBox. You can share, save, send and delete all your files from your Windows environment, including Windows Phone 7, and now with the iPhone.

Why is Microsoft continuing to support iOS? Aside from the fact that it’s a smart business move for the traditionally software-focused company, SkyDrive for iOS gives Microsoft the opportunity to flex its HTML 5 muscle. According to the Windows Live Blog:

More generally, we believe you should have access to your personal content no matter which device you use. This is why we are excited to invest in HTML5 — both on the web and on mobile — on http://skydrive.com.

iOS users will be particularly happy to know that Microsoft has included all SkyDrive’s features, yet “the experience is tailored for the iPhone,” including integration with the Apple Mail app and more. It’s a win-win for iOS users, Apple, Microsoft and HTML5 proliferation. Sign up, sign on and start uploading and sharing here. And if you’re underwhelmed, don’t worry: Microsoft has plans to make SkyDrive even more useful for iOS and Windows Phone users alike, especially when Windows 8 arrives with SkyDrive integration.