“The question of Office for iOS has burned for a year, but a release is still up in the air after comments by Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer at yesterday’s “new” Office 365 launch,” Liam Tung reports for ZDNet. “Asked about Office for the iPad, Ballmer gave a terse reply: ‘I have nothing to say on the topic.'”
“‘We’re very happy with the product that we’re putting in market,’ Ballmer told Bloomberg. ‘It makes sense on the devices like the Mac and the PC. We have a product that we think makes a lot of sense. We do have a way for people always to get to Office through the browser, which is very important. And we’ll see what we see in the future,'” Tung reports. “In meantime, the only tablet on which Office is available is Microsoft’s own Surface.”
MacDailyNews Take: Which is exactly the same as not having Office on tablets:
Crash and burn: Windows RT tablet sales in 2012 likely to total less than one million units – – January 30, 2013
Tung reports, “The fundamental issue thought to be behind the delay in bringing Office to iOS is Microsoft’s unwillingness to pay Apple’s 30-percent commission on apps sold through its App Store.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Keep your dogshit in your own yard, Microsoft. We don’t want it and, best of all, it’ll only hasten your demise. iPad and iPhone are already firmly ensconced into the Fortune 500 and SMB without Microsoft’s bloated morass of insecure spaghetti-code. The world is rapidly learning that it can live without Office and, by failing to pollute iOS devices with their crapware, Microsoft is spreading the news better than anyone.
For the record, Steve Ballmer is the greatest CEO the world has ever seen – unmatched – certainly the best we’ve ever witnessed. We like his strategy, we like it a lot.
May Microsoft’s shareholders and BoD remain forever comatose and may Mr. Ballmer remain Microsoft CEO for as long as it takes!
(Which, at this rate, shouldn’t be much longer.)
Related articles:
Windows 8 bloat: Microsoft’s 64GB Surface Pro will offer users only 23GB of available storage space – January 29, 2013
Microsoft doesn’t reveal Surface sales, and probably never will – January 24, 2013
Microsoft blames PC makers for Windows 8 flop – January 24, 2013
Fujitsu President: Weak demand for Microsoft’s Windows 8 killing PC Sales – December 28, 2012
Philip Greenspun: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is a Christmas gift for someone you hate – December 7, 2012
MKM Partners cuts Microsoft price target, estimates on lower than expected Surface, Windows 8 sales – December 5, 2012
Why Microsoft’s Surface tablet is doomed – December 5, 2012
App developers shun Microsoft’s Surface tablet – December 4, 2012
Microsoft Surface Pro to offer only half the battery life of Apple’s latest iPad with Retina display – November 30, 2012
Microsoft’s Surface Pro iPad killer to start at $899 – November 29, 2012
Microsoft’s Surface tablet flops, orders reportedly cut in half – November 29, 2012
TechCrunch’s Siegler reviews Microsoft Surface RT: ‘It’s time for a drop test – right into the garbage can’ – November 19, 2012
Slate reviews Microsoft’s Surface tablet: Too slow, mercilessly buggy; why is it so bad? – November 6, 2012
InfoWorld reviews Microsoft Surface RT: A disappointment; you’re better off with Apple’s iPad – October 31, 2012
Gizmodo reviews Microsoft Surface RT: Do not buy; inferior to Apple’s iPad; the worst of both worlds – October 25, 2012
The Verge reviews Microsoft Surface RT tablet: ‘The whole thing is honestly perplexing; who is this for?’ – October 24, 2012
ZDNet’s Kingsley-Hughes: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is an awful, horrible, painful design disaster – June 8, 2012
Analyst meets with big computer maker, finds ‘general lack of enthusiasm’ for Windows 8 – June 8, 2012
Dvorak: Windows 8 an unmitigated disaster; unusable and annoying; it makes your teeth itch – June 3, 2012
The Guardian: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is confusing as hell; an appalling user experience – March 5, 2012
More good news for Apple: Microsoft previews Windows 8 (with video) – June 1, 2011
Not releasing Office for iOS or Android just makes the MS obsolescence that much clearer. Makes it easier for the competition too. With their sole relevant product not on relevant consumer devices, how is that supposed to work? Shooting themselves in the foot.
Frankly I think Office 365 is a smart move. I don’t want a MSFT product ON my iPad, but I use Excel extensively. Having access to my Excel spreadsheets while on the road, with the ability to tweak them, would be a big plus.
With LTE coming online and much faster WiFi I don’t see a speed issue accessing Excel wirelessly. I’ll bet there is a large market (enterprise) of users, just like me, that will embrace Office 360 as their iOS solution. I do this now with QuickBooks.
To protect myself from sloppy, crappy MSFT software I will backup my online work to my iMac, and a licensed copy of shrink wrapped Office.
And a hundred bucks a year is a smart move?
$100 a year for 5 users. That’s a great deal for office especially if you keep up to date with the latest version which is every 3 years like clockwork. Office is the standard for business and that isn’t changing anytime soon. This strategy is pretty solid overall.
$100/yr is the *consumer* version. A business Office-365 license runs a minimum of $5 per worker per month = $300 per year for that 5 user office.
It’s not $100 a year for 5 users, it’s $100 a year for 5 computers. There’s a big difference. You buy it once for $100 and you get to put it on 5 devices. You don’t get to share it with 4 friends.
Office for iPad is like a bicycle with triangular wheels.
=:~)
That is a great improvement! One less bump than a bicycle with square wheels. 25% less bumps!
Which could actually work, as Poul Anderson revealed:
http://kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHFICT/mfview.php?callnumber=mf613
Even better, using the same shape to drill square holes:
http://curvebank.calstatela.edu/reu/reuleaux.htm
I got a new 27″ iMac in April 2012 and forgot to install my copy of Office.
I haven’t missed it! Not once. Ever.
No need for Office in any form on any of my Apple devices
Did the same thing in 2005–I receive Word and Excel docs about once a week.
No problemo.
As I said on another thread, if for some odd reason the Mac apps won’t do, try http://www.openoffice.org next. Anything but the Sloth Suite.
So 100% of nothing is better than 70% of potentially millions of users buying the app?
Also by not making iOS Office available Microsoft is sending folks searching for replacements (and thereby funding their own competition) to use on our iOS devices?
Boy I’d better not ever have to be a CEO. I just can’t make sense of Ballmer’s brilliant strategy here.
This is exactly correct. Now you have 100s of millions of Android and iOS users who have done just fine for 5 years with no Office (or Windows).
When it became clear that the iPad was a huge hit, MS should have jumped in with an iPad optimized version of Word and Excel and given up their dead fantasy of Mobile domination.
Now, they have neither hardware sales, OS sales nor app sales worth anything.
MS forgot its own name: MicroSOFT! Sell software to anyone using any hardware.
Basically they should’ve pulled a Sega.
Amen. “MS forgot its own name: MicroSOFT! Sell software to anyone using any hardware.”
Really, PC is loosing ground and Surface is not taking off, and your best source of money, the office suite, is not available on the most used PC (yes, the iPad) in the world?
Do you actually believe Steve Ballmer still working for microsoft? He’s long time an apple employee.
Quiet, you! Steve Ballmer is the best CEO the world has ever seen! May he stay at MS for as long as it takes!
Losing.
“Loosing” still works, in the sense that PCs are being driven into the ground, or are preparing for interment.
On the other hand, Surface IS taking off, in the sense of those notorious commercials showing them airborne in outdoor martial arts clickfests.
Long live Daddy Ballmer! Life is just too much fun with him around!
The amazing thing is that no one at Microsoft has managed to sneak up behind him and give him the chop to the back of the neck.
There they all stand, marvelling in their bosses’ vision and ability to run Microsoft into the ground in just about every conceivable way possible and hardly a murmur.
Long live Steve, I like him a lot – and his strategy? I just hope that he steers the ship carefully enough that the agony of decline is a long drawn out affair, hopefully give us a few more years of mirth before the inevitable happens…
Ballmer is truly the A$$Clown’s A$$Clown.
just my $0.02
The David Miscavige buffoon of Microsoft.
They must cart that man to and from the office in a short, yellow bus.
As we’ve said he became CEO because of the luckiest College Dorm Room assignment in history!!
What happened in that dorm room. (Shudder)
Just keep him there.
Question for everybody: if you were a chick, would you put out to him?
Nothing lubricates like $$$$ so yes while he still has a job.
Just reading that made me puke a little.
But I’d pay money for an hour with Steve Jobs (well, when he was alive thank you).
please do not refer to the late Mr. Jobs as a whore. Thank you in advance.
Definitely wasn’t meant in an insulting way. But I can see how you would take it that way.
Plus as a woman I think I’m viewing that hour differently than you would.
Microsoft Office: fast becoming legacy software for legacy hardware.
spot on.
With legacy price$. Reminds me of the old saying “Yesterday’s technology at tomorrow’s prices”.
Squeal as you might, there is no replacement for Excel. Not iWorks, not Google Office.
Pretty much.
excel is an amazing piece of software.
This is true. However, the number of people who require Excel are minuscule. Most people don’t understand basic mathematics let alone have the need for software such as Excel.
Very few people will resist buying iOS products for lack of Excel.
There are very few people I know who need Excel in their day-to-day lives, and I have a wide circle of friends and aquaintancies. There are a few people I work with who need to use it, but only on desktop machines; I can’t imagine any of them needing a mobile version, the sales guys have laptops, and, possibly use it, but I’ve never seen it open on their machines when they’re in.
Yep and that is the situation I am in.
I need excel on a desktop PC but I don’t need it on my phone or iPad. The ability to view an excel file is really all I need on mobile or ipad.
Agreed. Excel is a great piece of software. I’ve used it since v1.0.1 on a Mac SE in 1990.
I just wish they hadn’t redesigned the Menus (Ribbon I think they call it). It was nearly perfect. I’m still using Excel 2008 on my Mac. The newer PC version at work is just a horrid mess of menus.
I think Office for iPad is very very important. I hope it will come. If the 30% cut is an issue just increase the price a bit. I know it will still be 30%, if the new price but Microsft can blame Apple for the expensive Office.
Or they can just do it like this. Sell the software through Microsoft’s site. That will generate a code. Buy a Microsoft download App on the AppStore for .99 cents. Apple takes 30% of .99 cents. Enter the code and download Office!
That would be my solution and I don’t think Apple would disapprove.
In app sales are subject to the 30% too. Advertising and streaming cost money. There is no free ride.
Ballmer is scared to death. Once Office for iOS is released, there will be no reason for the Windows Stupid Tablet to exist. Corporate IT Drones and their CIO Master Overlords automatically buy anything MS POS, including the MS POS Tablets.
Office will come to iPad as soon as Surface RT & Pro dies an ignominious death by sustained rounding error market share.
The sooner the better. 🙂
I posted something on my own blog. Apparently, Ballmer is doing exactly the opposite…
http://carlomazzini.blogspot.com/2012/05/future-of-microsoftof.html
#MicrosoftSuicide
It keeps getting better.
How funny is the clown that shoots himself in the foot, time after time after time? Sooner or later, you realize that he is not a funny clown at all, but a demented True Believer, a captain that astonishingly is willing to go down with a doomed ship, to take one for a team that is rapidly dissipating, or most pathetic of all, a supposedly rational human unable to convince anyone to adopt his inferior product in favor of superior ones.
We grok. 😉
The fact that this guys is still CE… errrr… wait…. HOIST!!! May he reign forever 🙂
I thought I would flounder without MS Office on my iPad. I was in a quandary for a couple of weeks pondering what to do. But I dived into Pages, Numbers and Keynote and haven’t looked back since. Mind you I did have iWork on my Mac before plunging into iWork for iOS so I knew what I was getting into.
Apple should do more promoting the iWork suite for iOS. It fills in a missing piece of the jigsaw better than you think it would. A touch device isn’t optimised to edit long, complicated documents or spreadsheets anyway so the full functionality of an Office suite isn’t needed.
Instead of complaining about the absence of Office on the iPad/iPhone, give iWork for iOS a try. You might like it.
All I need is the ability to access excel spreadsheets on the iPad and I’m covered. There are plenty of ways to do that so I don’t need office on the iPad.
Leave office on full blown desktop systems and provide a clean interface for accessing SharePoint workspaces on the iPad and MS will have the bases they need covered.
What do the anal-ysts say of Microsoft & Surface anyways(?)
The reality is that we haven’t needed it yet, and really won’t ever, so keep your crapola Office suite, and spare us from infecting our apple gear with a useless, bloated POS un-productivity suite.
Office, Microsoft, Ballmer T. Clown just do not matter. They are as irrelevant to modern computing as betamax is to media, clothes pins next to an electric dryer…I am sick and tired of hearing about a word processing application created in 1983 being important. It just isn’t.
MDN: imagine what you want, this is a selling feature that you know will sell some Surface Pros and take away some sales from the iPad. Speculate away at the numbers, but don’t be so stupid as to pretend that MS didn’t just score a hit against Apple.
Apple COULD upgrade its office suite to compete, but it has COMPLETELY floundered on that front. That’s why you hear all the time about Excel, or occasionally even Open Office, or others, but NOBODY considers Numbers to be equivalent. Same for Pages vs Word. Not sure about Keynote vs PPT, but almost all presentation slideshows are BS fluffware anyway.
Productivity users demand better from Apple, and they are still waiting. Meanwhile MS Office for the Mac reigns supreme, and iOS will always remain a CONSUMER platform, not a CREATOR platform, just as it was originally intended.
The opportunity Apple has here is to deliver a better version of Office for Mac and iOS with xml filetypes read/write capable by any office suite. But based on the deafening silence from Cupertino, and the crappy software releases Cook & Co have rolled out in the past couple of years, I am not holding my breath.
… oh, and count me among the many who won’t touch Office 2013 with a ten-foot pole. Subscription-based computing is highway robbery for small business.
Mike, your “selling feature” is irrelevant. Grab a mitt and get in the game. Hello? It is 2013, not 1983.
the game has barely started. why don’t you watch how it plays out instead of pretending that nothing MS does is relevant?
For your info, Steve Jobs got a bail out from MS to keep the company afloat. Without that cash and promise of MS Office for the Mac, Apple would not exist today, period. MS needed Apple as a customer to demonstrate that they were not a complete monopoly. Today no such need exists, and Ballmer will happily cut off MS Office for the Mac if it stops being a profit driver.
Mark my words, you will never see a fully fledged Office running on iOS.
Moreover, the company that appears flat-footed right now is Apple. Its office suite is aimed at amateurs and is far from ready for prime time despite years of opportunity. If I was Cook, I’d shore up Apple software and release significantly improved “Pro” versions Pages/Numbers/Keynote pronto.
… and to your attempted point: baseball is child’s play. the real men play the big game this weekend.
you’re an idiot.
That’s all you’ve got?
succinct and accurate is sufficient.
I personally don’t have any use for Word or Excel. Despite Excel being a “standard”, I can do everything I need to in Numbers. Of course, I’m sure many folks in the finance world need Excel for some advanced features, but for us mere mortals, Office is irrelevant and the alternatives are good enough.