Apple confirmed to take 30% cut of Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions purchased in Office for iPad a
It was confirmed on Thursday that Apple will garner its stipulated 30 percent share of Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions purchased from the new Office for iPad app, which launched at a special event earlier today.
At the Office for iPad debut, Microsoft revealed it is using the so-called "freemium" sales model with the suite of productivity apps. In the case of Office, users can download the software for free, but will need to stump $99 per year (or pay a recurring $9.99 per month fee) for a Office 365 subscription if they want to edit documents.
In a statement to Re/code, Apple confirmed it will take the usual 30 percent cut of all Office 365 subscriptions purchased from any Office for iPad app. Apple does not profit from customers who use an existing subscription, or purchase a new subscription from Microsoft's website, to access the Office apps.
Apple's charge to publishers for all in-app sales was thought to be one of the major roadblocks in Microsoft's launch of Office for iPad.
Microsoft on Thursday introduced the long-awaited Office productivity suite for iPad, which includes custom-built versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
AppleInsider was able to spend some hands-on time with the new offerings and came away with the impression that Microsoft made a concerted effort to make the apps feel native to iPad, not just a mere port of existing software.
At the Office for iPad debut, Microsoft revealed it is using the so-called "freemium" sales model with the suite of productivity apps. In the case of Office, users can download the software for free, but will need to stump $99 per year (or pay a recurring $9.99 per month fee) for a Office 365 subscription if they want to edit documents.
In a statement to Re/code, Apple confirmed it will take the usual 30 percent cut of all Office 365 subscriptions purchased from any Office for iPad app. Apple does not profit from customers who use an existing subscription, or purchase a new subscription from Microsoft's website, to access the Office apps.
Apple's charge to publishers for all in-app sales was thought to be one of the major roadblocks in Microsoft's launch of Office for iPad.
Microsoft on Thursday introduced the long-awaited Office productivity suite for iPad, which includes custom-built versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
AppleInsider was able to spend some hands-on time with the new offerings and came away with the impression that Microsoft made a concerted effort to make the apps feel native to iPad, not just a mere port of existing software.
Comments
And in other news, Tim Cook's personal secretary advises Tim will be unavailable for the entire day as he currently in his office rolling on the floor laughing.
White Flag raised: Resistance was futile.
[QUOTE]Steve Ballmer will not be remembered as favorably as the man who created Microsoft. But at least he won't be remembered as the fool who killed it. That epitaph is reserved for his successor.[/QUOTE]
It will be very interesting to see how MS handles the next 5 years. The 5 after, more so.
People don't. It's fresh meat for the forums. Google ads are waiting to be served.
I have tried the MS Office for iPad and it looks like it needs polishing in the UI and presentation when compared with iWork. Some of the rough desktop look and feel of office are still there. While businesses will certainly use it because of their investments in office and office 365, end users will likely flock to iWork.
Office Video
[VIDEO]
A stupid comment. Look there are far more iPads sold per quarter than Macs. The ratio is between 3-7 to 1 depending on the quarter ( last Q was 26 million to 4 million). So most iPad users are windows users, often at home but sometimes in the office. Since Microsoft is a software not a hardware company and since this could sell in the millions this could be a win for them and Apple. It might even stop some migration to Macs. The sacrifice on that for Apple will be offset by the 30% they are getting and the increased iPad sales.
MS != Windows.
I'm the furthest thing from a Ballmer fan ... But, you have to give credit where credit is due -- these apps started on the Ballmer's watch!
I don't know though, whether Ballmer would have released it on the iPad before releasing it on the Surface.
I suspect that iOS has better APIs and a richer SDK than the Surface does.
Nadella gets it, Ballmer didn't. I agree with MG Siegler who wrote on his site that this is Microsoft basically admitting Surface is a failure. I do wonder what their OEM partners think about this as Office was one thing they could tout as an advantage, now they can't. I get the feeling Nadella is more interested in the services side of Microsoft and probably won't be making decisions based on what will protect Windows and PC OEMs.
Which makes him an incredibly smart man and very well could be the man that saves Microsoft. Ballmer was an idiot that has almost run the company into the ground.
For all of people's complaints MS does make pretty good products they just price them out of all but the business's hands.
Why should users have to buy Office360 account only on apple appstore?
Don’t rush out for early Easter gifts for kiddies and friends, Tim & Jon. The coin may not be as much as MS would like to think.
I'm the furthest thing from a Ballmer fan ... But, you have to give credit where credit is due -- these apps started on the Ballmer's watch!
I don't know though, whether Ballmer would have released it on the iPad before releasing it on the Surface.
I suspect that iOS has better APIs and a richer SDK than the Surface does.
From what I've heard is that he intentionally held back the release even though it was further ahead in development than the Windows version.
Why do people care about this? Seem like inside baseball that only tech journalists and maybe some Wall Street analysts would be interested in.
It's a big deal.
It's a serious app for serious people. If you need it (spend $100 now and get the bid sheet out for the contract, or not... and lose the bid), you will spend it.
if the numbers are right, $30/head per year... for hmmm, lets say 100 million people who pay for it via the iPad (in 2010, there were 750 million licenses of Office, and we are approaching 200Million iPads, at nearly 20 million a quarter... I think the gating factor will be how quickly businesses ramp up iPad support for office). Apple spends $3 processing the charge. 2.7Billion in gross profit, figure salaries, CapEx to service the clicks, let's go half on that ... 1.4B Net profit a year for just processing the payment of one customer.
Visa made $4B last year. Apple, servicing one customer, will make 1/3 of that.
Remember... this will be a 'I need it now!' buy... you're tooling around the country on your iPad., and it says... 'times up... pay M$!, ' you're not gonna run to your PC, and web in and pay microsoft the same amount of money. you click, type in your AppleID password... and continue spreading your sheets (sound bad ;-), 30 seconds of discomfort (after my battles with Excel today at work... 30 seconds would have been a godsend!)
It's a big deal.
Why should users have to buy Office360 account only on apple appstore?
They don't have to!
What this article is saying is that IF a user buys a subscription using an in-app purchase, then (and only then) does Apple get it's 30%. Since most Office users actually subscribe online using Microsoft's web site, or they already use existing enterprise subscriptions, then Apple will see very little of this potential profit because it's not an in-app purchase.
Why should users have to buy Office360 account only on apple appstore?
it's more of where you are when you need to buy it again. Unless I'm a MS sharedholder, if I'm on my iPad, and it says, 'pay up' and it's 99/year on the ipad and 99/year on the Office365 website (or PC, or surface)... what incentive will I have to leave the environment, pull out my credit card, and type in all the info. Why not just click pay, enter my AppleID password, and continue working?
Apple only gets 30% if it's an in-app purchase. If the subscription is not an in-app purchase, such as buying online on Microsoft's web site, or using an existing enterprise subscription, then Apple won't get it's 30% cut.
Nevertheless most new customers downloading this for the first time would use the IAP subscription model.
As for the cost to apple of hosting it - about the same as any digital bytes of the same size. It's probably much smaller than a HD movie.