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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
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.
If you put Office on the iPad, the only real reason to buy Surface goes away.