I just read that MS released Mobile Office for iphone today - What are they thinking?

[guitar1969]

I know iOS is a big market, but I think MS is really trying hard to fail on the mobile device front, at this point in the game. Office was something unique to MS Hardware, but now they gave customers another reason not to switch to MS devices. I know iphone is not the same thing as a Tablet, but we know its a matter of time before they pimp it out to Ipads too.

If they want to sell software, then get out of the hardware business.

Sometimes I really don't understand MS' moves and wonder who is making these decisions . . .

 

[kristalsoldier]

I read that too. Maybe it was a matter of time till MS found that a competitor would have filled in that gap - particularly in the iPad segment. They may try a differentiation by making the Office suite a subscription model for non-MS platforms - but that is a weak argument/ logic since traditionally iPhone and iPad users do spend a lot of money on apps etc. But yes, I agree, I am not sure what MS is thinking in this regard.

Edit: I'd rather MS spent their time and energies in developing and releasing accessories for their Surface products in the market!!!!

 

[jnjroach]

This requires an Office365 Subscription, if they can get a large percentage of iPhone Users purchasing the subscription it is a huge win against Apple and Google. $99 is for Individuals, but huge dollars come from switching On Prem Enterprise Office EAs to Office Subscriptions so that their iPhone Sales and Executive can have Office. This I'm sure is part of the rumored transformation into a Device and Services Company.

 

[Nuspieds]

Office is too popular and widely-used for there not to be 3rd-party "alternatives"/workarounds. Over time, those tools will only get better. So, better that MS reap the revenues instead.

Having Office Mobile only running on Windows Phone is not a compelling enough reason for me to switch to a Windows Phone device. There's much more to a cell phone than just an Office app.

 

[mitchellvii]

Wow and I thought 10.6" was a little small to run Office. Geesh.

 

[Nuspieds]

Wow and I thought 10.6" was a little small to run Office. Geesh.

The most "Office" functionality I use on my cell phone is to look at a Word attachment. At least that's basically text that's easily reformatted to fit your screen, just as if you were reading an email.

But PowerPoint, Excel?! I can't see how people can do it! To each his own, I guess, but for those things I wait until I'm back at my desk.

Sent from the SurfaceForums.net app for Windows 8

 

[Krooked]

I had the full version of office 2007 on my Ipad through an online server. It worked great but you are still stuck with a clunky (and limited) method of uploading saving and sending your office files to and from the Ipad. And then there is the normal issues you have to deal with when doing anything but playing or surfing on the Ipad. It simply sucks as a productivity tool. The keyboards are toooo small, the processor and ram are too weak, etc.

I think this is a brilliant move by Microsoft. People can make direct productivity comparisons and I'm confident the Surface Pro will come out on top.

 

[Tom T]

I read a quick review and the functionality sounded pretty limited. Nice if you already have a subscription, and like someone here said it might be enough to convince people to switch to a subscription based Office solution.

 

[pallentx]

As much as it might be detrimental in the short term to them getting to their long term goals, I appreciate them going this direction. It could be the beginning of the breaking down of the siloed ecosystems. MS says the want to be about "devices and services" and they intended to offer their services on every platform. I love that Skype is on WP, Android, IOs, Blackberry, Kindle, Windows, MacOS, and Linux. If they do the same with Office, Skydrive, Outlook.com mail and their other services, this will encourage more adoption. I do fear that rolling it out to the iPad could kill Windows Tablets. Office is one of the things that lures the curious over to check out the Windows tablets. Most people wont even consider one because its not the most popular.