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Why Microsoft Office For iOS Will Likely Never See the Light of Day
MojoKid writes "It has been over six years since Apple introduced the iPhone. Millions of apps have been written for the platform in that time, with collective downloads into the billions. Apple's App Store is a thriving marketplace with a huge amount of software available, except Microsoft Office. There's a version of Office for iOS supposedly in the works, but Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer threw cold water on the idea when asked about upcoming events for the Office suite after launching the new Office 2013 / Office 365 products earlier this week. Revenue sharing is reportedly a major sticking point. Microsoft is trying to push people towards yearly subscriptions with Office 2013 and Office 365, but Apple requires a 30 percent profit share on sales of any app in their store. Microsoft reportedly isn't thrilled at the idea of sharing that much revenue. It's ironic — when Bill Gates agreed to port Office to the Mac nearly 20 years ago, it was seen as a lifeline for the beleaguered manufacturer. Now, Microsoft is knocking on the door of Apple's business and Cupertino seems disinclined to answer."
It's ironic — when Bill Gates agreed to port Office to the Mac nearly 20 years ago, it was seen as a lifeline for the beleaguered manufacturer. Now, Microsoft is knocking on the door of Apple's business and Cupertino seems disinclined to answer.
This conclusion absolutely does not follow from the sentence that came before it.
Apple should probably pay MS to port MS Office to iOS and preinstall it on ipads.
That could tilt the movement to Android back in their direction.
just my 2c
MS isn't being creative enough is what it sounds like.
Offer the ability to create / edit documents via a free MS Office suite on the iDevice.
Offer a subscription service to be able to save/open those files off the device.
Apple isn't forcing Netflix to hand over 30% of their revenue, because they give up the App for free.
But boo hoo, MS has to pay what everyone else does to Apple for the service.
Sounds like a perfect opportunity for OpenOffice or LibreOffice to be ported to iOS.
I really shouldn't have used someone else's email address for this account.
Microsoft shipped Excel for Apple OS in 1985, a few years before shipping a version for Windows.
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What cut do you think retail takes?
And what fee do you think is right for someone that has to supply unlimited bandwidth and insfratructure support to get your app to people everytime they want to reinstall it as well as free 5gb of backup space.
If that's so unreasonable then why is Microsoft taking 30%? Even Google takes 30%. Microsoft just wants special treatment and quite frankly they can suck it. That's not fair to the small developers.
The mark-up for selling a bicycle and bike parts is 40 percent.
Clothing is 100 percent.
A 30% cut of the retail price is probably lower than brick-and-mortar. Do you honestly think that Microsoft gets the full $300 you pay for Windows 7 Pro from Fry's?
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BMO
You're joking right? The retailer markup is more than enough to cover Apple's 30%. These are just cheap bastards that don't want to pay for distribution... In spite of their prices being an order of magnitude higher than when they were actually sold in stores. They all spent the last decade pulling their products from retail making users buy from their gated communities... Apple just re-invented the retail software store again, which means your products compete on a shelf with everybody else. Again that sucks if you've spent billions buying up and driving everybody else off the shelves.
Almost all of these companies have had or have their own gated stores with FAR more onerous terms than Apple.
Regarding the "Apple supply bandwidth, infrastructure and payment method" argument that crops up commonly in these discussions - its a facetious argument because the seller HAS NO FUCKING CHOICE IN THE MATTER even if they do have the ability to do it.
I'm sure both Adobe and Microsoft have the ability to replace Apples "contribution" completely, but they aren't allowed to by Apple. They aren't even allowed to attempt to, its completely verboten - you have to use Apples distribution service, you have to use their payment gateway, you have to use their app store otherwise your app simply won't happen.
And thats the point being made. Its not about what Apple offer, its about them refusing to allow those than can equal them in capability to actually do it.
It'll need extensive tweaking for each browser to manage such a complicated interface, but MS can manage that.
Right, just like OWA works fully on all browsers. After all, it's been out for a decade already and it's been redesigned several times...
Microsoft will never even try to "manage that", because it goes against Microsoft's core business model. While most companies accept that customers want tools that do the job well, Microsoft only makes tools that do the job well only when paired with other Microsoft products. This is why the term "Microsoft shop" is so much more common than an equivalent "Adobe shop" or "Oracle shop", or even an "Apple shop" - at least when referring to more than a single tool.
Despite Apple's alarming growth and nasty business tactics, I just can's seem to gather as much hatred for them as I can for Microsoft. Apple's tools are smooth. My iPad will easily work with anything else, whether it's connecting to OS X, Windows, or Linux (though Linux has some issues still). Using iTunes on Windows doesn't leave me looking for missing features, like I usually do when trying to use OWA from Chrome.
On the other hand, I expect that Office will never have an iOS app or a full WebKit-compatible interface. Microsoft can still bring its monopoly power to bear, and use its Office market share to promote its floundering Surface tablets. Some companies (probably including my current employer) will be interested in using tablets, but they need Office more than they need any feature of iOS, so they'll buy Surface tablets out of necessity, not choice.
Office documents are the last monopoly Microsoft has. Even its hold on the desktop OS market is breaking, as alternatives are becoming more viable with every new OS-agnostic cloud offering. Since Microsoft's main tactic has been to use its monopolies to force ancillary products on customers who just want things to work, I think we'll soon be seeing more extra "features" dropped into each new version of Office, just to force competitors to waste resources and maintain the all-important market share.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Apples and Oranges. You are comparing Microsoft's desktop operating system with Apple's mobile operating systems. If you compare Apple's Desktop operating system (OS X) to Microsoft's Desktop Operating System (Windows 8) then you still have the same 3 options: Apple's App Store, Steam, and any website.
If you compare Microsoft's MOBILE operating systems (Windows 8 RT and Windows Phone) to Apple's mobile operating system (iOS), you end up with the same comparison: You are able to get apps from the sanctioned app store of the vendor.
I think it will all be over for MS of they port Office to iOS and Android.
Think 10 years from now what will be available? Clouds, managed service providers, outsourced IT, HTML 5/6 apps in browsers and applets. Where does Win32 sit in there? It doesn't. Doe the managers today want ugly Metro bulky laptops or sleek sexy IPADS?
Hell, today Citrix makes software as a browser plugin where you can run your IE 6 shit apps on a remote Windows 2k3 server just fine. It is all secured, locked, and works in many different platforms. Now Windows is not needed.
The only thing today in 2013 that is holding management by their balls is Office. Want to check those meetings? Ohh wait I do not have outlook on my IPAD. Want to edit that memo for ... oh wait I need my windows PC with word to do that etc.
Office 365 might do serious damage too as it is not tied to IE or Windows. If I can run Office on my Galaxy tab Android device with my blue tooth keyboard and docking station (this is in the future) then I do not need Metro or Windows 8.
I agree with Balmer on this. Apple is too dangerous and powerfull and you and I both know business users will only get Windows RT pads as IT departments realize Office is a must. It is the glue.
http://saveie6.com/
If you put Office on the iPad, the only real reason to buy Surface goes away.
Regarding the "Apple supply bandwidth, infrastructure and payment method" argument that crops up commonly in these discussions - its a facetious argument because the seller HAS NO FUCKING CHOICE IN THE MATTER even if they do have the ability to do it.
Yes, they do. They can not sell on iOS, they can simply put the app out for free and sell the services outside of the App Store from their own website.
Amazon does this very thing with their Kindle app.
I'm sure both Adobe and Microsoft have the ability to replace Apples "contribution" completely, but they aren't allowed to by Apple. They aren't even allowed to attempt to, its completely verboten - you have to use Apples distribution service, you have to use their payment gateway, you have to use their app store otherwise your app simply won't happen.
And thats the point being made. Its not about what Apple offer, its about them refusing to allow those than can equal them in capability to actually do it.
And the user is better off for it! That simplicity is part of the appeal of iOS. One login, one store to keep track of all purchases. No fear in buying an in app purchase from some random game, no having to sign up for each and every developer's personal web storefront just to use their app.
And by doing so, Apple has created the most successful app store ever. Adobe and MS are silly to balk at 30%, when they likely lose more than that selling software discs through third-party stores as it is, and the App Store (and especially, the Mac App Store, for Adobe and MS particularly) has the potential to sell more units
than they sell presently, resulting in greater revenue and profits!
MS has already said the next version of Office will be available through the Mac App Store (though with Office 365, it remains to be seen if this will actually happen), and Adobe sells software through the Mac App Store as well. The only real reason for them to not increase their App Store offerings is if they intend to make their own stores that people have to go through. At which point the user is back where they started, with various annoying stores to have to go through.
It's like Steam, which is great. Then there's GoG and Desura, but that's not too bad, and they offer value that Steam can't match (DRM-free, no central manager you have to use). Now EA's Origin is in the game, with all the annoyance of Steam, but worst in virtually every way.
Man, I absolutely love the peace of mind the App Store gives. And same with Steam. Keep it simple, and users will be far more comfortable and eager to part with their money.
When I started selling apps on the Apple App store and later Google Marketplace I knew other small individuals and small companies who balked at the idea of Apple taking 30%. They viewed they were getting ripped off.
I asked them how much it would cost for them to set up their own website and support infrastructure along with managing things like PCI compliance costs and all the joys that come from dealing with CNP transactions. And don't forget marketing. (yes you still have to do marketing outside of the app store, but the app store does help). And I still maintain a website for my apps, but that runs off Wordpress on a $75 a year Pair lite account.
To me, paying a 30% commission for Apple to take care of all of that backend stuff is well worth it. Same with the Google Marketplace/Play store and even with the Windows Store.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
Word 3 kind of sucked (was that 1987 or 1988?) but by Word 4, Microsoft had a killer feature set. The only new feature they've added since then that I use is hyperlinks. and Word Art still sucks hard.
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
I have a data acquisition device that spits out nearly 4000 columns worth of data per unit that needs to be charted on a weekly basis for production statistics
Autodesk has never made the Macintosh one of their main platforms. Perhaps they are having some fun putting out little applets for iOS, but the CAD scene has never been strong on the Mac platform.
Historically Autocad was a DOS and then Windows platform. Real CAD historically was a UNIX workstation thing.
You need to look recently. Other than Inventor (which the still haven't ported for some unknown reason), AutoDesk has made a very STRONG commitment to OS X, and particularly with AutoCAD. And even Inventor (as well as others) are fully supported under Windows virtualization on the Mac.
And if you want a full Unix-Style OS X compatible World-Class CAD/CAM/CAE environment, look no farther than Siemens, who has ported their Unigraphics UG/NX PLM Suite to several platforms, including, as of 2009, to OS X. And I do believe that this package SMOKES that nasty AutoCAD, because even VectorWorks does that, quite handily. And VectorWorks has existed on Macs since at least 1989.