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."

Comments

wtf

[yincrash]

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.

Re:wtf

[samkass]

Indeed... Microsoft Excel was refining itself on the Mac when Lotus 1-2-3 on DOS was the primary spreadsheet for the business world in the 80's. It wasn't until OS/2's failure in the early 90's (when the other office software had generally gone the OS/2 path) that Office-on-Windows really picked up steam. Each version of Word was ported to Windows from the Mac until the much-maligned 5.0 version when they tried to reverse it and failed badly. The question in the late 90's, though, was whether Microsoft would cancel the Mac version of Office entirely or keep it going. The fact that it was always profitable probably helped the decision, but in promising to do so and investing $150M they got out of a huge number of lawsuits they probably would have lost.

Re:wtf

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Windows 8 has a real chance at beating iOS/Android in the enterprise, which eventually makes it a challenger at home also, and this is in large part due to the ability to run Office - and *the full Office suite* at that. Why would Microsoft want to give away this advantage in exchange for short term Office sales?

<Homer Simpson voice>Mmmmmmm.... Kool-Aid....</Homer Simpson voice>

There are ways around it

[hsmith]

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.

Re:also why other pro apps will not be in other ap

[bmo]

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?

--
BMO

Re:android has more then 1 appstore IOS and window

[adamstew]

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.