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Microsoft's Office for iPad Team Discusses Ballmer's Role in Launch, Mac Synergy, and More

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Since Microsoft Office for iPad was released shortly after Satya Nadella took the reins at Microsoft, many assumed that he had given the final go ahead for the release of the software. As it turns out, it was actually outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer who gave the green light for the launch of the project.

The details come from a new "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit with Microsoft's Office for iPad team. On the post, a user asked how many of the company's recent moves could be attributed to Ballmer and the team states that the decision to ship Office for iPad was made before Satya became CEO.

msftipadwall.jpg
Microsoft's Office for iPad Testing Lab​
The decision to ship Office for iPad was made before Satya became CEO. Steve Ballmer approved the plan to ship Office for iPad. -- Kaberi, Technical Product Manager, Office for iPad
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Office for iPad was in development for years before it was released to the public in March, with hints of the software first appearing in 2011 and a prototype surfacing in 2012. Microsoft was initially focusing on bringing the Office software to its own line of touch-based tablets before bringing it to the iPad, but the company reversed course earlier this year and launched the software. The team commented on the delay:
Since we were designing Office for iPad from a "blank slate" so to speak, we wanted to take the time to deliver the highest possible quality Office experience that is fully optimized for the iPad. A wise man once said, "Details matter, it's worth waiting to get it right." That rings true for how we thought about it.Han-yi Shaw, Group Program Manager & Design Manager for Office for iPad
Click to expand...
Thus far, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have done well in the App Store, hitting the top of the Free App Store Charts within a single day. Microsoft announced last Friday that the apps had reached a collective 12 million downloads since release, and they remain the top three free iPad apps in the App Store.

Though Microsoft's apps are available for free from the App Store, creating and editing documents requires an Office 365 subscription, which is priced at $9.99/month or $99.99/year. Apple receives a 30 percent cut of subscriptions that are purchased within the App Store, making the apps lucrative for both companies.

Aside from giving details on the release of Office for iPad, the Microsoft Team also gave out information on when to expect new features. Printing, a feature lacking from the existing version of the software is "a high demand feature that [Microsoft] intends to introduce in due course."

When asked about a possible update to Office for Mac, the team did not hint at a release date, only confirming that the software is indeed in the works. They did note that Office for iPad has sped up development on Office for Mac, however, as the code for the products is shared and the development platforms are similar.

Article Link: Microsoft's Office for iPad Team Discusses Ballmer's Role in Launch, Mac Synergy, and More
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/04/08/microsoft-office-for-ipad-team-on-reddit/
Dulcimer

Dulcimer

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2012
891
688
All those iPads… wow!

Office for iPad is job well done by Microsoft.
 
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seble

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2010
972
163
You can tell they took ages to develop. Whilst not incorporating 'all features' i.e printing, the app is much much much better designed and more fluid than pages.
 
iMacFarlane

iMacFarlane

macrumors 65816
Apr 5, 2012
1,123
30
Adrift in a sea of possibilities
The software looks good on the iPad. They did a great job capturing the feel of iOS and the iPad itself in the applications.

Not a big fan of the subscription model, but if anyone else out there remembers when Office would cost upwards of $400, the annual subscription would be a "savings" for the next four years . . .

Nicely done, Microsoft!

ZA104229148.png
 
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Calexander3103

macrumors newbie
Mar 3, 2014
6
0
The app is free.....great way to pull people in, and then BAM, hit 'em with that $10/month or $100/year to actually use the app.
Props for the douchebaggery Microsoft.
 
jmoore5196

jmoore5196

macrumors 6502a
May 19, 2009
838
319
Russellville AR
"Details matter?" Indeed they do!

Details like shipping a new OS with 65,000 known bugs apparently don't affect MS very much; I'm glad to know they take a more focused approach to iOS.
 
Bhatu

Bhatu

macrumors regular
Apr 1, 2013
171
86
It does'nt even looks like a lab. More of outsourced development and testing space where each employee is suppose to keep the ipad back on shelf before leaving.
 
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unplugme71

macrumors 68030
May 20, 2011
2,827
754
Earth
Calexander3103 said:
The app is free.....great way to pull people in, and then BAM, hit 'em with that $10/month or $100/year to actually use the app.
Props for the douchebaggery Microsoft.
Click to expand...

I contacted Microsoft's financial team regarding your issue and they are willing to make an exception for you.

They asked that you download all three applications from the App Store (Word, Excel, Powerpoint). Once you have confirmed the apps have been downloaded, send a check for an amount that you feel is worth the cost of these applications and tack on an additional $99 for a 1 year subscription.

Is that better? Did you want to pay for the apps and the subscription? :rolleyes:

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dumastudetto said:
Charging almost $10,000 to use Office for 100 years is insane pricing. Sorry but I'm out of the Office ecosystem forever!
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Ok, I told your boss that you volunteered to work for free.

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Bhatu said:
It does'nt even looks like a lab. More of outsourced development and testing space where each employee is suppose to keep the ipad back on shelf before leaving.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm assuming if it installs correctly, and the app launches, it works? Does MSFT actually test their apps in real-world scenarios?

I see these only being used inside the lab. I could, and hopefully, be proved wrong.
 
dumastudetto

dumastudetto

macrumors 603
Aug 28, 2013
5,002
7,142
Los Angeles, USA
unplugme71 said:
Ok, I told your boss that you volunteered to work for free.
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Yeah that's a fair comparison. Me refusing to pay an excessive amount of money every year for a product that is already grossly overpriced in the marketplace is akin to me asking the poor Microsoft employees to work for free.

Now you could have told my boss I decided to download the fully baked iWorks apps for free and deleted all Office entirely.
 
R

Razeus

macrumors 603
Jul 11, 2008
5,348
2,030
People are still crying about the subscription? Oh no, MS wants me to pay for a service they are offering that I need? How unfair!
 
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unplugme71

macrumors 68030
May 20, 2011
2,827
754
Earth
Bhatu said:
It does'nt even looks like a lab. More of outsourced development and testing space where each employee is suppose to keep the ipad back on shelf before leaving.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm assuming if it installs correctly, and the app launches, it works? Does MSFT actually test their apps in real-world scenarios?

I see these only being used inside the lab. I could, and hopefully, be proved wrong.
 
Cyloncat

Cyloncat

macrumors regular
Oct 26, 2012
168
45
NC, USA
Calexander3103 said:
The app is free.....great way to pull people in, and then BAM, hit 'em with that $10/month or $100/year to actually use the app.
Props for the douchebaggery Microsoft.
Click to expand...

You get a little more for that subscription, like rights to install and use Office on up to five desktop machines (Mac and PC), as well as Office apps on as many tablets and phones as you want. Plus 20GB OneDrive space. It's really not such a bad deal.
 
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unplugme71

macrumors 68030
May 20, 2011
2,827
754
Earth
dumastudetto said:
Yeah that's a fair comparison. Me refusing to pay an excessive amount of money every year for a product that is already grossly overpriced in the marketplace is akin to me asking the poor Microsoft employees to work for free.

Now you could have told my boss I decided to download the fully baked iWorks apps for free and deleted all Office entirely.
Click to expand...

Don't use their software then! Problem solved!

Prices are reflected on many factors. One of them being demand. Lower their demand by not purchasing.

So many people in life are dumb as bricks. We are consumers. We control the economy. So many of us think the government and "corporate world" does. WRONG!

We can make the change. We can stop buying from them! Act now! Before its really too late.


In my previous employment, I cut our licensing costs by 18,000 per year for a 150 employee company - most of which were factory workers. Now if an enterprise company can use more open-source/free licensed software, think of the savings. Some companies spend 10's of millions per year on licenses - quite a bit of that is probably never used due to poor auditing.
 
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badams002

macrumors member
Mar 28, 2013
43
0
TX
Calexander3103 said:
The app is free.....great way to pull people in, and then BAM, hit 'em with that $10/month or $100/year to actually use the app.
Props for the douchebaggery Microsoft.
Click to expand...

Did you think that they were going to give it away for free? Really? The market leader for productivity software giving away that software for free? They were quite up-front that you needed Office 365 to create and edit. The only disingenuous part is expecting us to believe that the delay was about them trying to get it right and not about trying to find away around paying Apple 30%.
 
Kariya

Kariya

macrumors 68000
Nov 3, 2010
1,820
10
Razeus said:
People are still crying about the subscription? Oh no, MS wants me to pay for a service they are offering that I need? How unfair!
Click to expand...

That's an oversimplified way of looking at the issue.
 
ugahairydawgs

ugahairydawgs

macrumors 68030
Jun 10, 2010
2,959
2,457
Hopefully this means a SkyDrive Pro app is in the works too for OS X. Apps are great, but if the storage isn't there to tie it all in then its all moot.
 
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