Xobni, the email startup that we’ve described as “The Superplugin for Outlook”, has partnered with LinkedIn to automatically pull contact information from the popular professional network. Xobni will now draw from public profiles on the LinkedIn network, displaying information about contacts’ employers, job titles, and pictures as part of the plugin’s sidebar.
Xobni’s sidebar helps manage Outlook email boxes by automatically threading email conversations, sorting attachments, and creating a network of related contacts within your inbox. Since its launch at TechCrunch40, the company has seen remarkable success. Earlier this year Bill Gates demoed the product at the Office Developers Conference, calling it “very, very, cool” – so cool, in fact, that Microsoft extended an offer to acquire the company for $20 million. After weeks of rumors, Xobni walked away from the deal, fearing it would just get swallowed up and forgotten in the Microsoft machine.
The partnership with LinkedIn makes Xobni even more useful. It’s too bad Xobni users are still limited to Outlook and Microsoft Windows (though there’s a web-based version for Yahoo Mail on the way). Hey guys, where’s the Mac Mail version? Seriously.
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