Microsoft
surprises everyone by announcing yesterday November 6, that they will offer Microsoft Office
suit for iPad, iPhone and Android devices for free. What? For real?
Yes, you read it right. You can now use Word, Excel and PowerPoint for free. This surprise strategy will let the consumers hooked to the Office applications. You’ll longer need an Office 365 subscription starting today to edit documents.
"It’s an extension of the strategy that
we’ve got," explains Microsoft's head of Office
marketing Michael Atalla. "It’s
not a total strategic shift, as much of an extension of the existing
strategy." Microsoft
offers free Office apps online, and Atalla argues that recent development model
changes inside Microsoft have allowed the company to open up editing
functionality to mobile clients. "We’re
taking that same user experience we provide online to the native apps of iOS
and Android. We want to make sure that our customers can be productive across
all the devices they have."
A
big move from the software giant which originally charged Office applications even as
free productivity apps have bloomed in recent years. According to New York
Times, letting people access it for free will be a big risk for the company. Nonetheless,
the company will still continue to charge Office applications installed on
laptops and desktops and will make some features on the mobile apps
only accessible to premium users. Enterprise customers will still have to pay
as well.
The
free versions of Office for iPhone and iPad are available today. The Android version
is available as a preview and will get a full release in 2015.
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