MS Office for the iPad already exist from third party such as CloudOn and OnLive. They are both free. My bet would be that MS willl release Office as a cloud service like CloudOn.
I suspect that MS will find a way to tie this into their cloud service...
A bold move?
Undoubtedly the cloud service is the foundation for the whole kit the same way that it is for the existing OneNote application. This brings "the other three" Office Web Apps to iOS as well.
Office for IOS will be closely tied in with the new Skydrive. Overnight MS could get itself millions of new Skydrive subscribers. They'll want to leverage that connection and surely hope to pull users over to Win8. Not Mac users, of course, but some of those millions of IPhone or iPad toting Windows users. All the more reason for Apple to up the iCloud ante.
I understand some of the comments were written with a bit of sarcasm but why do people feel we have to go back to business as usual by getting any software from Microsoft? What part of "Think Different" don't people get? Apple put out a good computer in a tablet form factor, why does that mean you have to immediately put all your old garbage on it? Isn't it time to look for something better or are we so entrenched in an archaic word processing program that we can't let loose of our comfortable "pencil?" I read schools aren't teaching cursive anymore not because it isn't a reasonable way to convey information (Windows Office products) but because the method of information sharing has changed. We're past the Microsoft Office days, let go of that disastrous product and move on.
You obviously haven't used Numbers for any length of time. Keynote/Pages are great replacements for PowerPoint/Word, but Numbers (for the iPad) is VERY feature poor compared to Excel and conversion of docs from one to the other does not always go smoothly. Just because you have no need for it, doesn't mean that others are 'living in the past' because they do.
This will be a win/win for Apple & MS. MS because it keeps Office as the default Word processor/Presentation/Spreadsheet apps. Apple because it makes the iPad useful to more and pore poeple. It also helps MS by weakening Android. There is room for a second tablet OS. In fact, there needs to be one, by doing this, MS is making it iOS & Windows 8 for business people, and further marginalizing Android (on tablets). Strategically it's a nice move on their part.
I'm betting the Office team had this ready to go from almost day one. I'll wager that the management at Redmond held it back until they saw that their efforts on the tablet were going to be delayed. Once Apple delivered solid mobile versions of the iWork suite the pressured mounted. And with the huge iPad market and its continuing growth, they no longer could justify the loss in revenue from what is one of their three main cash cows.
Whether they waited too long, and allowed too many iPad users to get-along without Office in the enterprise is still to be determined. However, they are betting heavily on the Metro interface, and this make work in their favor (or just the opposite if it sux) to build some mindshare for the smartphone as well.
Android, well, given the wide variety of hardware, I'm sure that Redmond doesn't want to open that bag of hurt from a performance perspective. And if it is only tablet oriented - there isn't a strong enough presence to justify risking negative experiences. Perhaps once Google starts enforcing hardware standards and...well we know how that will end don't we.
It's about time they made some software for the iOS world. They've been asleep at the wheel, along with Intuit (think Quicken, QuickBooks etc..). Why these large companies haven't created iOS software before is in my opinion insane - and the stock holders of these companies should be asking loudly - why it's taken so long. Years of lost sales & market share.
Microsoft has a cash cow - Microsoft Office. 80% of the world feels that they must buy Office in order to have a working computer. Of course in reality it's not necessary anymore, and just a matter of time until the free open source versions catch on.
Intuit is in the same boat, why haven't they created a QuickBooks and Quicken counterpart. There are tons of smaller companies making apps for the iOS platform, but they're just asking to lose market share if they don't create some kind of sales/POS for the iOS that syncs w/ QuickBooks.
Office for IOS will be closely tied in with the new Skydrive. Overnight MS could get itself millions of new Skydrive subscribers. They'll want to leverage that connection and surely hope to pull users over to Win8. Not Mac users, of course, but some of those millions of IPhone or iPad toting Windows users. All the more reason for Apple to up the iCloud ante.
I agree 100% that this is what they are up to ... time for a counter plan Apple ...
All I'm hoping for is that a Microsoft release of the suite will include a clean interface for track changes on the iPad which I think is a crucial tool for collaborating on the go.
This is a good move for MS. I have felt for a longtime that their windows everywhere moniker should really be Office Everywhere. As long as they can see office who cares which OS it runs on.
On a side note I wonder when Apple will bother to release a new iWork on the Mac..... Getting a bit long in the tooth now Apple!
If I were a betting man, I would parlay these horses:
-- Office iPad in the 1st (March) at 2::1 (price of corresponding iWork modules) with SkyCloud entry (free trial)
-- SkyCloud fee service in the 2nd (March) at $20/year/user
-- iWork upgrade == OSX iWork in the 3rd (May) with fee iCloud at $12/yr/family
While I can certainly understand the snarky Microsoft comments from long time Mac users who suffered at the hands of the evil empire there are now millions of iPad users who never knew this evil existed. They will likely jump at the thought of Office for iPad. Whether MSFT eventually releases it for Android is another question. I think MSFT sees Android as more of a threat than iOS. It's a battle between the two "good enough" camps that cater to the discount crowd.
I understand some of the comments were written with a bit of sarcasm but why do people feel we have to go back to business as usual by getting any software from Microsoft? What part of "Think Different" don't people get? Apple put out a good computer in a tablet form factor, why does that mean you have to immediately put all your old garbage on it? Isn't it time to look for something better or are we so entrenched in an archaic word processing program that we can't let loose of our comfortable "pencil?" I read schools aren't teaching cursive anymore not because it isn't a reasonable way to convey information (Windows Office products) but because the method of information sharing has changed. We're past the Microsoft Office days, let go of that disastrous product and move on.
You do realize that the majority of iPad users have PCs at home, don't you? Until Apple makes iWorks for the PC, pages, numbers, and keynote are pretty much stand alone programs for these folks. Having MS office on the iPad is great. If this had been announced two weeks ago, I'm sure it would have tipped my friends wife to the iPad from the Transformer Prime.
Pricing will be very interesting. Apple wins no matter what. Even if MS prices it the same as iWork ($9.99/app), Apple gets a 30% cut (or perhaps MS can negotiate that lower). But MS is used to making $150 or more for the suite.
Why should Microsoft give Apple 30% of the selling price?
Oh, that's right. iPads will only run software bought direct from Apple. Never mind.
MS Office for the iPad already exist from third party such as CloudOn and OnLive. They are both free. My bet would be that MS willl release Office as a cloud service like CloudOn.
I predict MS will release native apps and CloudOn can kiss their business model goodbye.
That was my first thought, acquiescence. Not holding back their crown jewels for their own tablet is either that or amazing faith in what hardware they have coming one day.
I believe by their anti-trust settlement the office team has to be run as a seperate business unit. So this could be nothing more than a sound business decision by the office team. It is funny that AI did not bother to check on that when they ran the exact opposite of this story two days ago.
Comments
I suspect that MS will find a way to tie this into their cloud service...
A bold move?
Undoubtedly the cloud service is the foundation for the whole kit the same way that it is for the existing OneNote application. This brings "the other three" Office Web Apps to iOS as well.
I understand some of the comments were written with a bit of sarcasm but why do people feel we have to go back to business as usual by getting any software from Microsoft? What part of "Think Different" don't people get? Apple put out a good computer in a tablet form factor, why does that mean you have to immediately put all your old garbage on it? Isn't it time to look for something better or are we so entrenched in an archaic word processing program that we can't let loose of our comfortable "pencil?" I read schools aren't teaching cursive anymore not because it isn't a reasonable way to convey information (Windows Office products) but because the method of information sharing has changed. We're past the Microsoft Office days, let go of that disastrous product and move on.
You obviously haven't used Numbers for any length of time. Keynote/Pages are great replacements for PowerPoint/Word, but Numbers (for the iPad) is VERY feature poor compared to Excel and conversion of docs from one to the other does not always go smoothly. Just because you have no need for it, doesn't mean that others are 'living in the past' because they do.
This will be a win/win for Apple & MS. MS because it keeps Office as the default Word processor/Presentation/Spreadsheet apps. Apple because it makes the iPad useful to more and pore poeple. It also helps MS by weakening Android. There is room for a second tablet OS. In fact, there needs to be one, by doing this, MS is making it iOS & Windows 8 for business people, and further marginalizing Android (on tablets). Strategically it's a nice move on their part.
Whether they waited too long, and allowed too many iPad users to get-along without Office in the enterprise is still to be determined. However, they are betting heavily on the Metro interface, and this make work in their favor (or just the opposite if it sux) to build some mindshare for the smartphone as well.
Android, well, given the wide variety of hardware, I'm sure that Redmond doesn't want to open that bag of hurt from a performance perspective. And if it is only tablet oriented - there isn't a strong enough presence to justify risking negative experiences. Perhaps once Google starts enforcing hardware standards and...well we know how that will end don't we.
Microsoft has a cash cow - Microsoft Office. 80% of the world feels that they must buy Office in order to have a working computer. Of course in reality it's not necessary anymore, and just a matter of time until the free open source versions catch on.
Intuit is in the same boat, why haven't they created a QuickBooks and Quicken counterpart. There are tons of smaller companies making apps for the iOS platform, but they're just asking to lose market share if they don't create some kind of sales/POS for the iOS that syncs w/ QuickBooks.
Office for IOS will be closely tied in with the new Skydrive. Overnight MS could get itself millions of new Skydrive subscribers. They'll want to leverage that connection and surely hope to pull users over to Win8. Not Mac users, of course, but some of those millions of IPhone or iPad toting Windows users. All the more reason for Apple to up the iCloud ante.
I agree 100% that this is what they are up to ... time for a counter plan Apple ...
That whole Windows thing was an unfortunate sidetrack for Microsoft. I'd love to see them returning to making great apps for all major platforms.
This is a good move for MS. I have felt for a longtime that their windows everywhere moniker should really be Office Everywhere. As long as they can see office who cares which OS it runs on.
On a side note I wonder when Apple will bother to release a new iWork on the Mac..... Getting a bit long in the tooth now Apple!
If I were a betting man, I would parlay these horses:
-- Office iPad in the 1st (March) at 2::1 (price of corresponding iWork modules) with SkyCloud entry (free trial)
-- SkyCloud fee service in the 2nd (March) at $20/year/user
-- iWork upgrade == OSX iWork in the 3rd (May) with fee iCloud at $12/yr/family
This pretty much sums up what I really wanted from an ipad. Everything else is there.
Also - no Android version! Companies who chose Android tablets will be kicking themselves.
I understand some of the comments were written with a bit of sarcasm but why do people feel we have to go back to business as usual by getting any software from Microsoft? What part of "Think Different" don't people get? Apple put out a good computer in a tablet form factor, why does that mean you have to immediately put all your old garbage on it? Isn't it time to look for something better or are we so entrenched in an archaic word processing program that we can't let loose of our comfortable "pencil?" I read schools aren't teaching cursive anymore not because it isn't a reasonable way to convey information (Windows Office products) but because the method of information sharing has changed. We're past the Microsoft Office days, let go of that disastrous product and move on.
You do realize that the majority of iPad users have PCs at home, don't you? Until Apple makes iWorks for the PC, pages, numbers, and keynote are pretty much stand alone programs for these folks. Having MS office on the iPad is great. If this had been announced two weeks ago, I'm sure it would have tipped my friends wife to the iPad from the Transformer Prime.
Pricing will be very interesting. Apple wins no matter what. Even if MS prices it the same as iWork ($9.99/app), Apple gets a 30% cut (or perhaps MS can negotiate that lower). But MS is used to making $150 or more for the suite.
Why should Microsoft give Apple 30% of the selling price?
Oh, that's right. iPads will only run software bought direct from Apple. Never mind.
It's about time they made some software for the iOS world. They've been asleep at the wheel, along with Intuit (think Quicken, QuickBooks etc..).
MS already has 12 iOS apps available, just nothing as beefy as Office.
MS Office for the iPad already exist from third party such as CloudOn and OnLive. They are both free. My bet would be that MS willl release Office as a cloud service like CloudOn.
I predict MS will release native apps and CloudOn can kiss their business model goodbye.
Why should Microsoft give Apple 30% of the selling price?
Oh, that's right. iPads will only run software bought direct from Apple. Never mind.
Your point being?
They're obviously fine with it, otherwise they wouldn't have made this.
That was my first thought, acquiescence. Not holding back their crown jewels for their own tablet is either that or amazing faith in what hardware they have coming one day.
I believe by their anti-trust settlement the office team has to be run as a seperate business unit. So this could be nothing more than a sound business decision by the office team. It is funny that AI did not bother to check on that when they ran the exact opposite of this story two days ago.