Microsoft and Apple Facing Off Over Office for iOS Subscription Revenues, Not SkyDrive

[babyj]

Originally Posted by walnuts

You are right- I was more referring to say Office 2008 and prior. My point was just that compatibility is key, and even minor differences between older Office versions caused issues... so by comparison Google Docs and Apple's suites are even more off the mark in terms of strict compatibility.

It's strange that only Microsoft have realised about the compatibility issue, basically putting their hand up, admitting it was an issue and finally fixing it (albeit only for 2010/2011 onwards).

Whilst Apple and Google have their own formats and a half hearted Office compatibility mode which is useless if you want to preserve formatting (and who doesn't). If either really want to compete with Office they should be focussing on 100% compatibility or getting together to push a single standard.

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Originally Posted by Scott6666

Or just raise the price 30% more that you intended to sell it for on a surface. Then keep the surface apps at that original price and if apple users don't want to be overcharged app-wise buy surface instead of an iPad.

Just have a few feature changes to say its not the same app on 2 platforms.

Wouldn't work as they're selling it as a multi-device subscription - they're not actually selling the apps which are likely to be free downloads and then you'll need to be signed in to your Microsoft Live account to actually use them.

[gmanist1000]

Honestly, who wants to pay another subscription for something we could pay one time on?

I already pay a subscription for:

-Netflix
-Hulu
-iPhone
-And more I don't care to type!

[MacDav]

Originally Posted by AppleScruff1

I never criticized what could be done on an iPad. My criticism is usually of Apple the company.

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Hello pot.....

You are the clever one aren't you? Is that all you've got? When you have nothing to say...attempt to insult. Pathetic...

[commander.data]

Since this isn't time Apple's 30% cut on in-app subscriptions has been an issue with developers maybe Apple should just reduce their cut on subscriptions for all developers. Apple can retain a 30% cut on original app purchases as well as in-app purchases. But for in-app subscriptions the cut could be say 20%. Given subscriptions are long-term stable revenue streams with less risk, having a smaller cut makes sense. If a smaller cut encourages developers who are currently implementing external subscription mechanisms where Apple never sees any revenue to (grudgingly) adopt Apple's in-app subscriptions, the new revenue stream should make up for the reduced cut. If it can be revenue neutral or even revenue positive while satisfying developers and keeping things simple for users, Apple should definitely do it rather than being stuck with a set-in-stone mentality.

[Rockoar]

MS Office > Apple iWork suit, or at least Word > Pages.

[Liquorpuki]

Originally Posted by commander.data

Since this isn't time Apple's 30% cut on in-app subscriptions has been an issue with developers maybe Apple should just reduce their cut on subscriptions for all developers. Apple can retain a 30% cut on original app purchases as well as in-app purchases. But for in-app subscriptions the cut could be say 20%. Given subscriptions are long-term stable revenue streams with less risk, having a smaller cut makes sense. If a smaller cut encourages developers who are currently implementing external subscription mechanisms where Apple never sees any revenue to (grudgingly) adopt Apple's in-app subscriptions, the new revenue stream should make up for the reduced cut. If it can be revenue neutral or even revenue positive while satisfying developers and keeping things simple for users, Apple should definitely do it rather than being stuck with a set-in-stone mentality.

All the devs will just switch over to in-app subs to make more $$$ and/or eat the 10% so they can pricegouge. Apple really has no choice here - it has to be a flat % across the board.

[babyj]

Originally Posted by gmanist1000

Honestly, who wants to pay another subscription for something we could pay one time on?

You haven't checked out the pricing for Office 2013 have you? They've made the subscription for Office 365 over outright Office 2013 purchase very attractive.

[sinsin07]

Originally Posted by bungiefan89

...
And Excel is fine for the people who really need it for data entry and stuff, but I find the application very unfriendly to new users like me. And if you're SERIOUS about making a graph for a presentation, you should really be using Adobe software, instead of Excel which can knock out a graph really quick but is incredibly restrictive when it comes to adorning your graph with labels.
...

Financial institutions around the world have no problem with Excel, graphs and labels.

[mdelvecchio]

Originally Posted by walnuts

why force consumers to poke their way to the website on their own if the developers are just going around the app store method to avoid the cost?

because many developers DO pay the 30%, offering appstore subscription apps.

Clearly apple's disincentive model isn't working...

care to cite your sources on this?

[sinsin07]

Originally Posted by APlotdevice

The free versions on iOS are just demos. On Android they offer the full game, albeit with ads. (In fact originally there wasn't a paid-version on the platform.)

Maybe they gave up trying to sell something on a platform they realized had users who don't pay for apps or was to easy to side load cracked versions?

[Judas1]

Seriously, who hasn't heard about office. Is apple promoting the software by just hosting it in the AppStore. No. They don't deserve ****. Microsoft made the app. They promoted the app. Apple merely hosted. Hosting is the easiest gig out there. You can tell by how many hosting sites/companies are out there. And apple wants a 30% cut? That's crazy.

[somethingelsefl]

I may be in the minority here, but as a result of MS Office lacking on iOS, my personal AND business software has shifted to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (and now I use them on my Macs). I've held up just fine.

The reality is...MS is lacking more in the tablet/mobile space than Apple is in the enterprise/personal document space. MS has more to lose here than Apple.

[Ryth]

Originally Posted by Liquorpuki

Or they can maintain the pricepoint of Office by keeping it off iOS until they absolutely have no choice. Not like corporations worldwide are converting to iWorks anyway

But many corporations are moving to iOS devices as their main device depending on the market.

Microsoft is behind the 8 ball here...not Apple.

It's to MS advantage to put Office on iOS because of the sheer number of devices. That gives them tons of profit and can actually shutter Google/Android by only offering it on iOS and their own devices.

MS is not playing for #1 anymore...they are playing for #2. Their enemy/competition is Google, not Apple.

[mdelvecchio]

Originally Posted by ThatsMeRight

Dear Apple,

Thanks for your response. Here are some other options.

Option 1: You can have 20% of the profits and we 80%. We'll be able to reach tens, if not hundreds, of millions of users. We make some money. You make some money.

Option 2: You stay stubborn. You stick to your 70/30 policy. We'll launch Office on Android. For Free. And Windows Phone. For free. Perfect for everybody - except for iOS users.

Hope this helps with your decision making.

- Microsoft.

hmm -- considering the insane profit apple is and continues to make every single day (iphone profit alone is worth more than MS), i think apple's in the better position to say "meh".

[Ryth]

Originally Posted by somethingelsefl

I may be in the minority here, but as a result of MS Office lacking on iOS, my personal AND business software has shifted to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (and now I use them on my Macs). I've held up just fine.

The reality is...MS is lacking more in the tablet/mobile space than Apple is in the enterprise/personal document space. MS has more to lose here than Apple.

Yep...just said the same thing basically.

[Judas1]

Originally Posted by realeric

This Ferrari is free but you have to pay $1,000 monthly fee. Should the sales commission be $0 because the car is free?

Yes it should be, if you were the owner, and that free car brought in customers. I mean why fight over commission when you get so much more from customers coming in the lot.

[mdelvecchio]

Originally Posted by skaertus

Apple should consider some concessions here if it wants iOS to become serious in terms of productivity. Or it may stuck with Facebook, Instagram and Angry Birds for being forever just an expensive toy.

so strange: ive never played AB, and my idevices continue to help me run my business smoothly by keeping me connected to email, contacts and documents -- both consuming and generating. ive found no need to pay the Office tax and enjoy the iwork apps.

ive never considered it a toy, or anything other than what it is -- a tool.

[Ryth]

Originally Posted by skaertus

Agreed.

Apple should consider some concessions here if it wants iOS to become serious in terms of productivity. Or it may stuck with Facebook, Instagram and Angry Birds for being forever just an expensive toy.

The only people who are calling it a toy are those that really have no concept of just how easy it is to do business on an iDevice or have never done business or any business like work on an iPad or iPhone.

[TrentS]

Ugh!! Get your story straight before you hit submit!!

[mdelvecchio]

Originally Posted by somethingelsefl

I may be in the minority here, but as a result of MS Office lacking on iOS, my personal AND business software has shifted to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (and now I use them on my Macs). I've held up just fine.

The reality is...MS is lacking more in the tablet/mobile space than Apple is in the enterprise/personal document space. MS has more to lose here than Apple.

bingo. exactly on both.

[Liquorpuki]

Originally Posted by somethingelsefl

I may be in the minority here, but as a result of MS Office lacking on iOS, my personal AND business software has shifted to Pages, Numbers, and Keynote (and now I use them on my Macs). I've held up just fine.

The reality is...MS is lacking more in the tablet/mobile space than Apple is in the enterprise/personal document space. MS has more to lose here than Apple.

One of those spaces is hardware, the other is software, they're complements so you can't really compare. Ideally you'd a single mobile ecosystem that has the best of both. Instead you have Apple who wins at hardware but treats software as cheap assets. Then you have Microsoft, who wins at software but treats hardware as cheap assets. And they're both trying to use what they're good at to play each other

[shaunp]

Apple would be wise to play ball here. Microsoft is still the global standard in the corporate world for office applications, and that isn't going to change overnight. Wake up, give MS a break on the App Store costs and you'll sell a LOT of ipads as a result, and even better get MS to develop Visio and Project for Mac.

[TouchMint.com]

As a iOS developer I am glad Apple is sticking to their rules here. If msft gets a break then who is next?

As a msft shareholder I am not sure if I want office on iOS. I feel like its the only leverage they have to bring people over to win8 phone and win8/win8rt. While it might make them more money in the short term to have office on iOS in the long haul its going to hurt their windows segment.

[sinsin07]

Originally Posted by Judas1

Seriously, who hasn't heard about office. Is apple promoting the software by just hosting it in the AppStore. No. They don't deserve ****. Microsoft made the app. They promoted the app. Apple merely hosted. Hosting is the easiest gig out there. You can tell by how many hosting sites/companies are out there. And apple wants a 30% cut? That's crazy.

Small thinking makes for small money.

[drewyboy]

Originally Posted by babyj

What versions of Office are you running? I'm guessing not the latest versions or not the latest patches.

Microsoft made a very big thing out of compatibility with the latest versions of Office and claimed to have nailed it. They specifically claim the formatting is the same, though there could be differences in printing due to external factors.

I'd have to disagree. Can't get mac '11 & win '10 working together. Formatting is just as good as Pages -> Office '10, so there is absolutely no point to buy office '11 for mac. It's absolutely ridiculous. They continue to say "feature even, and compatibility it better"... they say that every release yet headaches still abound. I'm so sick of this office crap. I just dole out PDF and pretty much say suck it (not really). I just hate it all. I hate being gouged for office. You got ppl using openoffice, google docs, office, iWork... i once believed we could all get along and use an open format across all, but I then woke up from my dream. F it all. PDF's for everyone!