Microsoft seems to have finally gone to war to help Apple claim the crown for tablets for business users. Whilst most people have said they would use a tablet for work a significant proportion of those asked were put off from using theirfavouriteApple product because of its lack of Microsoft Office support. Now that is all set to change with the release of Office for iPads. Whilst this might atfirst seem like a great deal for Apple who can now use it to help claim even more of the enterprise marketplace Microsoft have been swift to ensure Apple don’t see any revenue from the apps.
By making the apps free to download and not having any In-App purchases this has stopped Apple from claiming the 30% they are due for all App / In-App purchases. Microsoft has gone the route they originally followed for the Office Mobile for iPhone and Android by giving the apps away for free. These App’s were however worthless unless you were able to sign in using an existing office 365 subscription. By following this process for the new iPad app Microsoft have ensured that they can expect additional sales of Office 365 – which might not have occurred prior to the app – and cut Apple out of the apps revenue stream.
Apple should still get the last laugh on this however as they can surely expect an increase in sales of iPads now users will be able to interactive with their existing Microsoft Office based work environment. If the company already has Office 365 for its workers and they offer a BYOD environment then Apple must surely see a smallup-tickin sales?
It remains to be seen just how successful the App’s will be but it represents what could be very exciting times for the tablet within a business environment and must have a long term impacted on the future of the desktop PC which has already suffered from the tablet’s arrival over the past few years.
Would people actually want to do most of their work on a tablet using the new Office for iPad app or does it have a long way to go before proving itself as a viable critical business tool that still remains to be seen.
