Microsoft has been suspiciously haphazard with its internal projects lately. First, details about the upcoming container-based version of Windows Server leaked shortly before the official reveal, and now an anonymous Twitter user has stumbled upon a page on its site that seemingly reveals the existence of an effort to develop a companion chat client for Outlook.

Referred to as Flow, the mobile application is described in the leaked description as designed to enable “fast, fluid, natural conversations” without the formality of traditional emails, or the hassle. The only requirement to contacting someone will be their Outlook address, similarly to how it’s done in existing messaging services, which promptly led Microsoft watchers to draw comparisons with the lightweight video chat client introduced for Skype last year.

However, there is strong reason to suspect that there’s more to Flow than merely an attempt to replicate that move for email, especially as far as business users are concerned. Outlook enjoys much greater popularity in the enterprise than the consumer world, where the success of the new client app will be impeded by not only alternatives such as Gmail but also better-established mobile messaging services that likewise have significant existing install bases.

Put differently, it would be much easier to bundle Flow into an organization’s Outlook license than to convince a consumer to switch over from a service that they’ve been using for years, and, no less importantly, still has all of their contacts. The existing adoption of the email client in the enterprise more or less removes that concern for corporate technology buyers.

Another reason to believe that’s a key target audience for Flow is the fact that the leaked information indicates that the first launch platform will be the iPhone. That doesn’t stand out too much on first glance first given that many top developers choose to debut their applications iOS first, but Microsoft is no ordinary development shop.

For starters, the company has its own competing platform, although that’s still not as significant the fact as Apple controls over 70 percent of the enterprise mobility market compared to only a fraction of that in the consumer world, according to a recent report. It’s not only market dynamics that indicate Flow will place an emphasis on enterprise workers, however. The state of the competition does, too.

The leak comes not long after IBM debuted a spiritual successor to its Lotus email system adapted for the era of mobility and cloud services, which in turn followed closely behind Google revealing a new iteration of Gmail likewise designed primarily use on smartphones and tablets. Flow could represent Microsoft’s entry to the fray, which would certainly be welcome news for customers.
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