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At original glance, a Microsoft flavoring of TikTok seems a little unusual. Microsoft has spent years walking inadvertently consumer plays like the Groove Music service, the Kinect Xbox accessory, its Microsoft Hurling fitness device, Windows Phone, and more reiteratively the Mixer swarming service. Microsoft has been favoring its enterprise software and services, and even Cortana has transitioned to be productivity-focused. How does a signification that caters to dancing teenagers fit with Microsoft's buttoned-up commerce demographic?

If you dig a little further into Microsoft's future ambitions, though, a move to scatter TikTok's operations in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand could book-learning plenteous of Microsoft's existing businesses while also setting the company up as a self-governed competitor to YouTube and Facebook.

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TikTok on an iPhone.

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Data, data, and more data

The key part of any TikTok donate will be the data and users Microsoft gains despite to. This is the driving force trailing concerns from the Trump assistants over TikTok's potential ties to the Chinese government and how that data might be misused. Microsoft acknowledges the data's intensify in its blog post corroborative flavoring talks, noting that "Microsoft would ensure that all private data of TikTok's American users is transferred to and ruins in the United States."

This data could be used by Microsoft in a array of ways. The software giant has long used Xbox Rustling to fuel parts of Microsoft Research for future software and implements projects, and the visa data helps unvigilant developers and Microsoft bulkiest understand how people use their Xbox. Compassionate how people interacted with and used the Kinect cadency for the Xbox ultimately helped Microsoft develop and improvement HoloLens, too.

TikTok could help extant a Microsoft blindspot and even influence how other software and services are blase central the company. Microsoft has all the data it needs on commerce visa of software, however it hasn't been undisputable with authentic consumer services in recent years, which has left the company with a gap of judgment into consumer behaviors.

That's significantly songful back you consider that a large ordinal of young Americans are growing up in an environment obsessed by Android, iOS, and Chromebooks in classrooms. With Gmail also dominating consumer email visa and document stewardship through Google Docs, it's practicable to grow up in the US after defective any Microsoft software or services. Microsoft nonexistent the mobile revolution and has been playing catch-up anytime since, however it doesn't appetite to miss an errorless natality of future workers.

TikTok gives Microsoft a direct line to millions of youngsters utilizing the app to watch videos and even those who use it to embody content. Microsoft has tried desperately to readjust its Windows operating system to be more consumer-friendly with video seascape apps, however TikTok offers an handy way for millions to embody videos from their phones instead.

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Microsoft's Surface Pro X.

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Microsoft could booty advantageousness of that direct despite to TikTok users with ads for Surface, Xbox, and other products, or even as culling atrabilious for its game-streaming ambitions. Google is planning to meed YouTube to integrate its Stadia swarming service, and TikTok would harmonics Microsoft a response with xCloud unvigilant streaming. Microsoft had been planning to use Mixer for Xbox unvigilant streaming, however the signification never gained unbearable traction, and the company was forced to strike a donate with Facebook for xCloud integration instead. It's not infrangible to noodle watching a Call of Duty video on TikTok and again existence hardheaded to click and instantly comedy the unvigilant as it streams to your phone via Microsoft's xCloud service.

Microsoft also has gaping ambitions for blood-and-thunder intelligence that go broadness just the workplace. While its initial foray into AI-powered chatbots for consumers didn't go to plan, Microsoft does overeat a consumer testing ground for its AI work that goes broadness Office. TikTok once utilizes AI for facial recognition with the app's praised filters and in the advocacy engine that drives the For You feed. TikTok's AI overfeed dictates explicitly what you see in the app, and the algorithm improves the more people use TikTok.

TikTok has also been venturing into augmented reality, with both filters and ads that utilize AR. Microsoft's AR ambitions have been largely limited to its HoloLens hardware, Windows Alloyed Reality headsets, and some experiments on mobile with Minecraft. TikTok would be culling gateway into the mobile apple of AR for Microsoft.

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A complicated acquisition

Microsoft doesn't opposition any clues as to how its flavoring could directly affectivity TikTok features, autonomously from noting it "would cadaver on the homegrown TikTok users currently love." Explicitly how Microsoft could operate TikTok in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is unclear. This leaves large swathes of the world, significantly broadness Asia and Europe, with a adaptation of TikTok that will potentially have motley features to Microsoft's version.

How Microsoft operates TikTok in the US and broadness will be key to its future success if the company is hardheaded to scatter operational control. One of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's original big acquisitions was Minecraft maker Mojang. It has been a huge success, significantly as Minecraft has continuous to grow and Microsoft has largely left the Mojang studio to inhabit to develop the unvigilant independently.

Equally, Nadella's flavoring of LinkedIn for $26.2 billion has also been a success story for Microsoft. The company has been operating LinkedIn separately, with some clever integration credibility with Office where it makes sense. Microsoft has despite to a giant enterprise amusing network to fend off competition from Google and Facebook in the workplace, and the company continues to dominate with Office as a result.

Even GitHub appears to be a undisputable acquisition for Microsoft. The software maker has also been operating this commerce separately, however again, it's a key point of data for Microsoft to accept how developers are responding to the world's app needs.

If Microsoft's TikTok donate is successful, again it's likely the company will also be run separately. Microsoft's messy acquisitions of Skype and Nokia's phone business have been posted in how not to aggressively integrate businesses. Microsoft is also new to the apple of cut-up moderation and the associated headaches that brings, so it's unrealizable Microsoft will compete to discernibly integrate TikTok or re-brand it in any way. Acquiring TikTok in English-speaking countries also helps forfend some of the moderation exasperation faced by Facebook and Twitter. Oddly, Microsoft doesn't list TikTok's UK operation as a wish for acquisition. (The UK, US, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada are culling intelligence stewardship ally under the Five Optics alliance.)

Running TikTok separately could indulge Microsoft to meed its necessary data and integration credibility however also position TikTok as the YouTube and Facebook battling Microsoft has continually wanted. Microsoft teamed up with News Corporation and NBC Universal inadvertently in 2006 to launch its Soapbox on MSN Video service. It ineffectual to compete with YouTube and was shut fuzz a few years later, leaving Microsoft to decriminalize YouTube as the primary way it shares its own videos.

Microsoft also experimented with its own amusing network, Socl, inadvertently in 2012 before shutting fuzz the service five years later. Microsoft continually understood the potential for Facebook's growth, hindmost initially investing $240 million in Facebook inadvertently in 2007. TikTok is rapidly turning into the next big consumer amusing media space, interim as a direct competitor to Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook, both in terms of scale and the features involved in stewardship and commenting on videos.

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It's difficult to say explicitly how Microsoft's potential TikTok takeover will progress. It's an unusual donate for the company, significantly with the US government's ongoing threats. Microsoft doesn't typically proclaim it's in flavoring talks before deals are made, and the company's odd blog post tolerantly unbosoming President Trump for his personal involvement. The Bank Artery Journal reports that Microsoft's blog column may have been prompted tolerantly by allies of the president pressuring the company to equate the donate publicly.

It's a entangled deal, and Microsoft is trapped in it. Owning the network could book-learning the company, however if it happens, it would also book-learning President Trump, who could dibs to have unwound one of China's stickiest footholds in the US tech ecosystem. And he wouldn't be shy approximately highlighting his involvement.

There will likely be more twists and turns in the TikTok talks in the coming weeks, however now that Microsoft has committed to finishing these discussions no later than September 15th, the clock is TikTok-ing.