If there is one thing I miss on my Android Smartphone is Microsoft Office and even though there are plenty of free and paid alternatives to office in the Play Store and also Google’s answer to Microsoft in the form of Google Docs.
However, anyone who is used to MS Office will tell you, these just aren’t comparable to MS Office and compatibility, especially when it comes to formatting, can still play spoilsport. And even though Microsoft is right now focusing on its own mobile OS in an attempt to become a major player in the mobile market, fact of the matter is, when it comes to smart phones, Android and iOS are winners by a big margin, a fact which is unlikely to change for quite some time to come.
So even though MS is hoping swing people to its own mobile platform and even including MS Office for free in Windows phone, I feel it will have a greater chance of doing that, if people on other mobile platforms get used to working on MS Office (like majority do on desktops and laptops) and started questioning the wisdom of paying extra for a software, which comes for free on another phone.
After all, it isn’t like Microsoft does not do business with Google and Apple already (from advertising on Google to building apps for Android, iOS and Mac OS). And by ignoring (more like purposefully leaving out) these platforms, MS is actually making users get used to alternatives to Office, especially considering that many people (including me) use their mobile phones and tablets for work these days and some are even replacing their laptops with tablets and phablets.
Based on this, developing MS Office app for Android and iOS seems like a logical step and one which is surely going to delight ardent MS Office users like me and bring in more revenue for the Redmond based company and a win-win situation for all, especially when the news is already out that Microsoft is planning to launch MS Office for iOS.
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