Microsoft Has 'No Current Plans' for Office on iPad

[kas23]

Won't millions of Office users soon own iPads?

Not if they buy a netbook instead. Although people on here may think netbooks are fugly, but they cost 1/2 the price of the iPad and have double the functionality. On a netbook, you can load a whole operation system and a word processor. That is, you can load both Windows 7 and MS Office onto a netbook. On the iPad, you potentially could only load MS Office. Now tell me, which device(s) do you think MS is pushing for?

Nevertheless, I don't really think people are going to use iWork on their iPad as they think they would. Of course I haven't tried myself, but trying to write a term paper for school or a PP presentation for work is likely going to be pretty cumbersome on the iPad.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Lololol,

Millions of people wont miss it.

 

[Dolorian]

Microsoft is very much irrelevant to my workflow these days and I do not plan to get an iPad, so it is no issue for me.

 

[sunwukong]

Thanks, but no thanks

No Office on iPad. THANKS!! I have to use Office 2007 at work, they only ventured to move everyone off Office 2003 the past few months. Gee, wonder why. No "Pocket" Word or Excel on iPad is a blessing. As elegant as iWork products are, Office would ugly up the place. I'm not doing any massive documents, or complex spreadsheets, but iWork's Pages and Numbers do more than I need, and are WAY cheaper, and a joy to use. I'd send MS a check to keep their crap OFF my iPad.

 

[Bafflefish]

Nice side effect too if getting everyone hooked on H.264 since Apple is one of the patent holders that gets paid more when that becomes the dominate format (for the video aspect). Likewise, flipping some folks from Flash based games/application to proprietary iPhoneOS games ... also happens to leave more money jingling in Apple's pocket too.

Adobe was an easy target. Flash was a big sphere of complacency (everyone did Flash because everyone else did Flash ). Apple is also going to get a better Flash implementation out this too. ( Adobe was dragging its feet on making it better across platforms).

The iPad was a nice inflection point to stir the pot.

Of course, Flash provides H.264 support also. The PC version runs fairly well, and with regards to the Mac implementation of Flash, as I've said, there's no technical reason it shouldn't run well. One of the two companies is essentially crippling its performance. Initially I honestly thought it was Adobe, but for the past few years now I've generally taken the viewpoint that it's Apple.

I will say one thing Apple has often done well is generally push for support of certain new technologies/etc. When Apple themselves have generally tried to push their own propriety hardware/software, it often hasn't turned out well. But when they've pushed what's essentially an industry standard early, the results are generally good.

It won't radically turn the tables, but may give incremental push for iWork on Mac OS. For folks who really only need a subset and the occasional home office format reader it will suffice. And it is cheaper.

Oh, I don't disagree that it won't have an effect on iWork for OS X. It's simply not going to be some huge driving force behind a huge uptake in iWork for OS X.

iWork on Mac OS X isn't radically killing off Mac Office but does cut a chunk out of the the lower end on the Mac Office Home:Student edition.
iWork is priced at $79 versus the $100+ for Home:Student. The iPad is priced even lower still. That has to be shaving off some sales for Mac BU.
Questionable strategic move for Microsoft to follow Apple deeper into their home canyon with a 3rd platform to port Office to.

I think people over-state how much effect iWork really has. In regards to the student version of Office, sure, official retail price it's fairly high. But for those it's actually targeted at, students, you can generally walk into any university or community college's bookstore/computer store, and pick up a copy for cheap. The university I went to, the full version of Office for Mac 2008 is currently available for $65. I'm sure prices vary per institution, but still, if it's one thing Microsoft has usually been well known for, it's for providing fairly cheap copies of its software to students/teachers/etc. (for comparison, Windows 7 Professional Full is $35, while it's retail MSRP is what, $300?).

Even more so if Windows7 Mobile or a much more touch target version of Windows Mobile comes out and targets similar form factors as the iPad. Working to have a version of Office Touch would be much more of a win/win for microsoft. As oppose to propping up the iPhoneOS even more (when their mobile platform is so far behind.

Microsoft ultimately cares about one thing: making money. And the iPad is in an entirely different market from that of what Windows Phone 7 is, so I don't think that's really part of it. There are Windows 7-based slates coming out, and if anything Microsoft will probably wait to see what type of sales those have. Ultimately though, even iWork for the iPad is fairly basic in functionality, and thus an iPad Word, or Excel, or PowerPoint, isn't going to be much different.

I don't think Microsoft is just going to sit back and let Android win in the Open Vendor Mobile platform space. Surely they have blundered, but they have lots of resources to effect a recovery if get their head screwed on straight. Especially if Android blundered in the next year or so. ( Ironically, if Apple manages to force HTC off of Android they would likely jump straight back into Windows Mobile where they were before. A kneejerk goof ball move by Apple. HTC was helping to kill of Windows Mobile by making the switch they did. If just stalling and inflating FUD then it may work for a while.)

HTC is still making Windows Mobile devices, and has plans for Windows Phone 7 devices, so I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that "HTC was helping to kill of Windows Mobile". HTC supports multiple OS', they only care about making profit, not the OS from which that profit comes from.

I honestly think, ultimately, Android is going to win no matter what. Apple and Microsoft both want closed ecosystems, where they maintain complete control. It helps for stability, but word of mouth regarding Android is generally good, and I've yet to meet anyone who has had anything but generally positive feelings about it when using it (sure, people have complaints, but people have complaints about the iPhone OS also, and that hasn't stopped it from accomplishing what it has).

My honest viewpoint is that, what Microsoft was in the 90s/early 2000s (a large corporation that basically dictated changes and had considerable influence in the IT industry), is ultimately what Google will become. Apple as it is now, in regards to mobile devices, reminds me of how Palm basically was for the mid-to-late 90s and early 2000s. Google, however, even with their "do no evil" mantra, is fairly insidious. More and more of your educational institutions are providing students with institution-customized Google accounts for their email, etc., and thus you're having large segments of current and future students who will essentially become acclimated to Google's services. Then, as they get older and move out into their respective industries, they'll essentially be most comfortable with what Google provides (similar to how many of your enterprise workers today are comfortable with Office, since it's been the standard for the last 12-15 years). Thus, why not buy a smartphone that fully integrates with your Google services, or a netbook/touch screen system that is powered by a Google OS, fully interconnected with Google services. I don't know, a part of me thinks we're heading towards a very Google-centric world.

 

[Bafflefish]

Lets be blunt shall we. No one has any artistic talent so lets stop with the courier being for that crowd, which is small.

You realize that pretty much all of your web comic author(s), and a lot of your traditional comic author(s), do their work on tablets now, right? When tablets first debuted, it wasn't the best and uptake was slow. But the last few years have seen quite a few artists take it up. I mean, why wouldn't you? Why do your work the traditional way, and potentially have to restart over at times, when you can do it digitally and simply undo mistakes, leaving prior progress unaffected?

Also, I think it's a bit ignorant to say no one has artistic talent...

Anyway there are wacom tablets that fit the bill perfectly. As for the courier being for the enterprise market I say child please! There are dozens of tablets for the enterprise market not seen my the average consumer b/c they aren't meant for the average consumer.

And that is why I said that I don't necessarily view the Courier as a consumer-focused product. If it ever comes out, I'm sure consumers will be able to obtain it, but I figure it'll be a fairly expensive product, and it won't be an actual competitor to the iPad, as they'll exist in separate markets.

My homegirl works at 7-11 and she uses a tablet supplied by the 7-11 company to do everything around the store like inventory and ordering.

Ok, and specialized tablets will continue to exist no matter what new product comes out. Almost every industry has niche areas where customized products have carved out a segment of the market and essentially have a monopoly on it. That's not about to change. But as a standard enterprise device that, say, executives might use for meetings, etc., I could see Courier having its own market that it would be successful in.

 

[GQB]

Apple's tablet competition = Microsoft Courier, HP Slate (w/ Windows 7)

How can the 'competition' be something that doesn't exist?
Folks, you gotta get your heads around this tough idea. The Courier video was a mock-up. Get it? It doesn't exist, and frankly (given MS's ability execute), will never exist.
Stop believing in pixie dust and fairies.

 

[GQB]

My honest viewpoint is that, what Microsoft was in the 90s/early 2000s (a large corporation that basically dictated changes and had considerable influence in the IT industry), is ultimately what Google will become. Apple as it is now, in regards to mobile devices, reminds me of how Palm basically was for the mid-to-late 90s and early 2000s. .

The difference is that Microsoft was a focused, product driven company that knew how to release product (its crapiness aside.)
Google is, at the end of the day, an advertising company. Nothing in its history tells me it has the faintest idea of how to release supportable products. They're great at throwing out clever freeware for the purpose of getting eyeballs, but it doesn't do products. Doesn't know customers, and doesn't know support.
Apple has almost 4 decades on them in those important fields. (Same lead on MS, since Microsoft, like Google, doesn't do 'customers'. Just knows how to sell to captive vendors.)
What I've learned from the whole iPad cycle to this point is that the techies who traditionally controlled the conversation have finally jumped the shark and shown that they really don't get the coming wave. And they're really going to pay for missing it.
Cory Doctorow's missive is the best example of how to be totally unclear on the concept.
He's of the school that seems to say that you shouldn't call yourself a car enthusiast if you can't strip a car down to components and rebuild it.
That days is past. It's now what you can do WITH a computer, not the computer itself.

 

[Kwill]

The only desirable effort wished of MS is that they work on improving/maintaining compatibility with iWork for iPad.

Thank you.

 

[zey]

do you really think Microsoft can make anything better than iwork?

Hah! Seriously, iWork barely competes with Microsoft Works, let alone fully featured office environments like Microsoft Office or OpenOffice.

Personally, I doubt anyone's going to miss office apps of any sort on an iPad. What insane fool would want to type and format a document on an oversized iPod Touch anyway?

 

[Scottsdale]

Office:Mac and iWork have two different target groups. Just look at the screen shots on the Apple and the Microsoft Website. Apple's show things like "Soccer league table" or recipes. Microsoft's show business related examples.

That furthers my point... instead of an Office/business user being able to buy Office for iPad they will use iWork for iPad. They will soon see that iWork does the same sorts of things that Office does. It doesn't matter about choices when you no longer have choices. The option for those who prefer Office is to not use there Office files on an iPad or to use iWork to access those same "Office" files on their iPad. The point is when there's no choice, the only choice wins! In this case the only choice for the iPad is iWork... Apple has to love this decision, and it will prove a further loss for M$ in the long run.

 

[RazHyena]

I have "no current plans" to buy anything from Microsoft. Probably never again.

I'm serious. Our 2nd Xbox 360 just died while trying to rescue the last Little Sister on the LAST LEVEL.

MS is really missing out on an opportunity here. Office for the iPad would be pretty cool.

 

[sushi]

MS is really missing out on an opportunity here. Office for the iPad would be pretty cool.

Yes they are. And yes, it would be neat to have Office on the iPad.

Editing Office documents (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and then round tripping them would be very useful.

 

[tobor68]

who the?

what? who's the stupidhead in charge over there? i thought corporations are never supposed to say 'no' to making money?

if i had money in MS i'd call someone and say 'i want my money back' you stupidheads!

the same kind of wrongheadedness is killing the record companies and movie studios. oh well, seeya stupidheads.

 

[Corbin052198]

Office for Mac is not very good, and I'm sure on the iPad it would be a CPU hog.

 

[Corbin052198]

do you really think Microsoft can make anything better than iwork? if they can i would like them to show us.

I'm suprised you said anything like that. iWork is far better an office suite than MS Office for Mac. They have it made on the PC, but SOOO not the Mac .

 

[bassque]

Google Wins Again.

Hooray for Google Docs!

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2010/04/google-services-on-ipad-and-tablet.html

 

[Jaro65]

Yes they are. And yes, it would be neat to have Office on the iPad.

Editing Office documents (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and then round tripping them would be very useful.

Precisely how I feel. However, the iWork suite apparently supports importing files from MS Office (though undoubtedly only at a pretty basic level) and so I'll still be able to review the MS Office email attachments. Also, I will be able to enter text into Pages, and then import into Word on my laptop in order to do formatting. So...not the ultimate solution by far. But at least it is not a total dead end.

MS should strongly consider developing some solid s/w products for iPad. They are really missing out on an emerging platform.

 

[lilo777]

Lololol,

Millions of people wont miss it.

Why? Do you think Apple will not be able to sell millions of iPads?

 

[iAlexG]

Office is just horrid. I love iWork '09 on my Mac because it has everything it needs, basic and more pro functions are all there (with the exception of useless crap microsoft put in office) with nice templates and iWork.com its a great deal at half the price of Office 08.

 

[lilo777]

Office is just horrid. I love iWork '09 on my Mac because it has everything it needs, basic and more pro functions are all there (with the exception of useless crap microsoft put in office) with nice templates and iWork.com its a great deal at half the price of Office 08.

It's one thing to debate whether iPad needs MS Office (in my opinion it's not suitable for such work) but it's totally stupid to argue that iWork is better than MS Office. Even Apple does not do this.

 

[Artsifrtsy]

You can save docs that will work in office out of iWork

I manage a creative department in a business that runs everything else on PC. We use iWork '09 and routinely open any version of MS Excel, Word, or Powerpoint - plus we can save out our documents to the necessary format needed by our PC using co-workers - it's a simple "save as". Our sales department now uses Keynote on one of our retired Macs because it's easier to import images - then saves the finished produce as Powerpoint for use on their other machines.