Microsoft Office for iPad launched

You seem wrong so far. MS Word for iPad is the 7th highest grossing app on the App Store
But that can't be right.

Unless you're referring to the very-much-cut-down and frankly crappy Office Mobile apps that have been around for a while for iPad, Android and which are bundled in Windows Phone?

The supa-Jr and crappy Office Mobile for iPad is now free.
 
I think it's a case of too little too late.

Anyone who needed to do this stuff already paid for other software ages ago and simply learnt to live with it, such as iWork or Smartoffice.

Then again if you are paying for a Office 365 sub then you have nothing to lose.
 
Very, very few people already have a 365 subscription. If I remember correctly, it is less than 4 million subscribers

That number doesn't included the Office 365 for businesses which MS doesn't disclose numbers for.

That 4 million makes up less than a third of the Office 365 subscriptions and Office 365 is the fastest growing MS product since SharePoint was launched generating $1.5 billion a year in revenue after 1 year which isn't bad going at all
 
But that can't be right.

Unless you're referring to the very-much-cut-down and frankly crappy Office Mobile apps that have been around for a while for iPad, Android and which are bundled in Windows Phone?

The supa-Jr and crappy Office Mobile for iPad is now free.

Yet it is.
It is not the crappy Office Mobile.
The new Microsoft Word for iPad is the 7th highest grossing app on the App Store.
Yes the app is free, but like many apps, it uses in app subscription so that you can subscribe to 365 via the App Store. So you buy your $6 pm subscription via the app store
 
That number doesn't included the Office 365 for businesses which MS doesn't disclose numbers for.

That 4 million makes up less than a third of the Office 365 subscriptions and Office 365 is the fastest growing MS product since SharePoint was launched generating $1.5 billion a year in revenue after 1 year which isn't bad going at all

I didn't say it was bad numbers. I just said they were very, very small.
 
What's the catch though?
There's no catch. It's a pretty great subscription

The catch is you.

Instead of paying a large amount once-off every few years when a new version comes out, you pay monthly or yearly.

For your monthly/yearly sub you get:

1) The latest version of Office as you've always known it (ie install it on your PCs)
2) A licence to install the full Office (as you've always known it) on up to five PCs.
3) A licence to install the appropriate version on up to five devices (eg the latest Office for iPad).
4) 24x7 support.
5) Always at the latest version level, ie free upgrades to latest version.
6) Online versions of all the apps, so you can work anywhere on any machine /device.
7) The always-available Click-to-Run (super-fast almost-instant streaming) version of the apps, which you can stream-install on any PC. This has to be seen to be believed ... start CLick-to-Run fpor say Word, and your PC (which can be at an Internet Cafe) has Word running and you entering text within about 5-10 seconds.
8) OneDrive gigs space (which in the business versions is really SharePoint).
9) Skype with free minutes to call ordinary landlines/cellphones not just always-free skype-skype calls.
10) On business subs you also get Lync and Yammer and other more business-oriented apps. One of the most fantastic things is the hosted Exchange. I have a total of three Office 365 enterprise subscriptions - two work profiles and one personal one. All my mail and docs on all my devices and PCs (office as well as home desktop PCs, laptops, tablets, and phones) are in sync. I can read and answer my work and personal mail on any device anywhere, even from any browswer on anyone else's PCs, and all my devices are completely in sync, including sent items and archived items, etc. Everything is exactly the same everywhere. This is so cool. Each Outlook mailbox alone has 25GB of allowable space, so all my mail since 1997 is always online on all my systems and devices. I could never go back to the old way of traditional Office.

In return, Microsoft get:

The main benefit is Smoothing of the Office Revenue Curve. Rather than a massive revenue and profit spike every two or three years when a new version comes out, and then a relative drop-off in between, Office revenues are more predictable, and the rev/profit curve is smoother, making it easier to manage investors and Wall St. Plus you get platform buy-in from users.
 
I think it's a case of too little too late.

Anyone who needed to do this stuff already paid for other software ages ago and simply learnt to live with it, such as iWork or Smartoffice.

Then again if you are paying for a Office 365 sub then you have nothing to lose.

Well, these apps are currently the top downloaded on the Apple store
 
This does not bode well for Microsoft under it's new CEO; going from ~R1500 once off cost for Office for Mac (full featured) to ~R750 per annum for iPad Office (lesser featured) is just utter insanity.

My prediction on this one is dismal sales failure; and price reductions to follow.
 
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[)roi(];12373644 said:
This does not bode well for Microsoft under it's new CEO; going from ~R1500 once off cost for Office for Mac (full featured) to ~R750 per annum for iPad Office (lesser featured) is just utter insanity.

My prediction on this one is dismal sales failure; and price reductions to follow.

It is not R750 per year for the iPad application. It is R750 per year for the full office on your PC (including Outlook, Access and Publisher), office on your iPad, 20GB of Skydrive storage and you can install it on the devices of 5 users in your home and all upgrades are thrown in. The full office retails for about R4500.

If you need it is a bargain if you look at it objectively. The latest Call of Duty PS4 game cost about that much and there is a new one every year!

My prediction is a lot of people who don't need it is not going to buy it. A lot of people who do use and need MS Office is going to buy it.
 
MS trying a subscription model in the age of app purchases? ****'em I won't do it. I don't mind paying $10 per app. Subscription? No chance.
 
It is not R750 per year for the iPad application. It is R750 per year for the full office on your PC (including Outlook, Access and Publisher), office on your iPad, 20GB of Skydrive storage and you can install it on the devices of 5 users in your home and all upgrades are thrown in. The full office retails for about R4500.

If you need it is a bargain if you look at it objectively. The latest Call of Duty PS4 game cost about that much and there is a new one every year!

My prediction is a lot of people who don't need it is not going to buy it. A lot of people who do use and need MS Office is going to buy it.
i understood that; but consider that the pricing in effect penalizes the customer with less devices; effectively make them proportionally pay more; probanly subsidizing the overall model.

This as I said is going to result in less sales, certainly not more. As many customers who would previously would buy Office (on a just in case they needed it basis), will this time round be forced to question their need for the product re the requirement to pay annual subs to continue use a product.

On this I think MS is more inclined to lose than win; especially when Apple already gives away a suitable replacement: less features I agree, but arguably enough for most.
 
[)roi(];12376610 said:
i understood that; but consider that the pricing in effect penalizes the customer with less devices; effectively make them proportionally pay more; probanly subsidizing the overall model.

This as I said is going to result in less sales, certainly not more. As many customers who would previously would buy Office (on a just in case they needed it basis), will this time round be forced to question their need for the product re the requirement to pay annual subs to continue use a product.

On this I think MS is more inclined to lose than win; especially when Apple already gives away a suitable replacement: less features I agree, but arguably enough for most.

I suspect most people who don't need it for professional purposes just pirate it.
 
I suspect most people who don't need it for professional purposes just pirate it.
probably; yet I think the % of people who would buy a PC + an office license at a retailer was probably higher than you think.

As to pirating: it's not so simple with an iPad; certainly no solutions ATM. Overall for all its complexity in obtaining re the subscription model; most will revaluate the need and probably just choose to do without.
 
[)roi(];12373644 said:
This does not bode well for Microsoft under it's new CEO; going from ~R1500 once off cost for Office for Mac (full featured) to ~R750 per annum for iPad Office (lesser featured) is just utter insanity.

My prediction on this one is dismal sales failure; and price reductions to follow.

I think they are going under the assumption that everyone upgrades every version they buy and therefore they can now justify the same cost over a two year period as you'll always have the latest version.

Little do they know it's ultimately a once off cost with a new PC. And that's it.
 
[)roi(];12376744 said:
probably; yet I think the % of people who would buy a PC + an office license at a retailer was probably higher than you think.

As to pirating: it's not so simple with an iPad; certainly no solutions ATM. Overall for all its complexity in obtaining re the subscription model; most will revaluate the need and probably just choose to do without.

For businesses and households it's a fantastic deal, but for individuals who don't need professional grade office apps i agree it's too heavily weighted to those who can make use of all the licenses the subscription offers. To sweeten the deal they should enhance the freebies somewhat. Upping the onedrive size from 20gigs to 100 gigs would go a long way i would think.
 
MS trying a subscription model in the age of app purchases? ****'em I won't do it. I don't mind paying $10 per app. Subscription? No chance.

The app model has been corrupted by in-app purchases.
 
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