Microsoft clearly values mind share and market share more than software royalties when it comes to mobile, at least in the short term. The software giant is making more features of its ubiquitous Office software available for free on Android and iOS devices. The company says it wants to increase the number of Office users by encouraging people to download the software even if they don’t use a Windows device.
Office includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint, three of the most commonly used business software tools. This week, Microsoft is unveiling a new version of Office for Android tablets, and is updating the iOS version of the popular software.
Microsoft started Office for iOS with a “freemium” strategy that required users to pay a subscription fee if they wanted to edit or print documents on Office for the iPad. Apparently these restrictions kept significant numbers of people from bothering to use mobile Office at all, because now the free app will include those features, Microsoft said. The company is testing a similar full-featured Office for Android.
One of every seven people on the planet uses Office, according to Microsoft. The software suite has continued to sell well into the enterprise market in recent years, but as the SMB (small and medium business) segment becomes increasingly important to large companies like Microsoft, the line blurs between consumer sales and business sales. And sales of Microsoft Office to consumers have been declining.
Microsoft Office for Windows and Macintosh computers will continue to be a licensed product. The company is hoping that people who download the free software for use on mobile devices will see the need to license it for their computers when it comes time to do the heavy lifting.
