A Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) employee has confirmed in a company blog that Sina Weibo, the popular Twitter-like social network, will be fully integrated into the upcoming Windows 8 final release. The Weibo tie-ins will come in the People app (pictured above), which is being described as a “modern, social address book.” It means that Weibo will likely become integral to WP8, the next version of Microsoft’s mobile OS.
The confirmation comes from Jeff Kunins, who works on the Windows Live team. He mentioned Sina Weibo while at the same time getting a dig in at Google for its lack of an API for G+:
As you can see in the screenshots we continue to add partners such as China’s Sina Weibo, and we would be happy to see Google provide the equivalent APIs for Google+ like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn do.
It means that Weibo’s 300 million strong social network can sync up their microblogging contacts in Windows 8, as well as quickly tweet to Weibo from within the People app and elsewhere in the desktop and tablet OS, such as in SkyDrive. The other main contact sync and mail options will be for Hotmail (of course), Exchange email, and Google accounts (excluding G+).
Weibo will also be integrated into the next version of Apple’s desktop OS, Mountain Lion, when it launched next month.
If you want to see the new People app in Windows 8 being given a run-through by Jeff himself, here’s a video – high quality mp4 | low quality mp4 – that also shows a fleeting glimpse of the Sina Weibo option.
[Sources: MS’ Jeff Kunins; via LiveSide]
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