[qudahamohammad]

as we all read the recent 'big' news, Microsoft moves it's popular smartphone-ified office to Android smartphone and soon it's coming to Android tablets.

Did Microsoft lost one of it's main tablet (and smartphone) advantages? Is Microsoft trying to bring Apple down by not supporting Office on its devices?

I suspect that Microsoft tries its best to put Apple down, we've seen recent advertisements comparing Apple's iPad to Microsoft's Surface RT, not to mention the popular "compare to iPad" on the Windows 8 website.

I'm afraid that people will no longer see that "office" is a reason to switch to Windows 8 tablets and phones, instead the crowd will move to the popular, application healthy, Android.

Discuss what you think about that.

[jlynnm350z]

Yes

[MacDaMachine]

If they have Office on everything, it makes people stick to using it. If you dont want WP8 or a Windows Tab but need an Office client then you might settle for Google Docs or something like that.

Sooner or later Google Docs will catch up to Office. And I think Microsoft rather give people the option to have Office on anything and everything.

[anon(5698912)]

First off, Microsoft already published an Office app for iOS way before releasing this new android app. Secondly, the app for android or iOS doesn't have the capability to create docs or excel spreadsheets like we can. So no, WP still has an office advantage and Im going to imagine that in WP 8.1 more office features will be added especially those who have a 365 account.

[xandros9]

is it 365 only like the iOS version?

[rdubmu]

Yes it is

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[raccoon210]

I think we did lose part of our advantage, but we still do have a stronger office client from my understanding. However I do think it was a necessary evil. Ms can't afford for all those people to move to google docs or other alternatives.

[tgp]

First off, Microsoft already published an Office app for iOS way before releasing this new android app. Secondly, the app for android or iOS doesn't have the capability to create docs or excel spreadsheets like we can. So no, WP still has an office advantage and Im going to imagine that in WP 8.1 more office features will be added especially those who have a 365 account.

Yes you are correct; the iOS app was released a few weeks ago. I have an iPhone 5 and a Nexus 4, so I'm able to try out both. What I discovered is that they are both pretty much the same. An Office 365 subscription is required. This does give WP a bit of an edge.

I think we did lose part of our advantage, but we still do have a stronger office client from my understanding. However I do think it was a necessary evil. Ms can't afford for all those people to move to google docs or other alternatives.

I was going to mention something along these lines on another thread, but I didn't have my flame suit handy! WP had few advantages over iOS & Android devices, with Office probably being the biggest (there actually are some 3rd party apps that are quite good). Yes, I know we have some personal preferences with WP, but they're not much more than that. Due to some of WP's other shortcomings, I would guess that keeping Office completely off of iOS & Android would've tended to drive consumers away from Office rather than bring them to WP. Apple & Google both have serviceable alternatives. No, they're not as good, but they'll do the job in most cases.

[paulm187]

WP needs to stand on its own merit. Office was an advantage but didn't sell WP by the bucket loads. So hardly any impact.

[gedzum]

Let's face it. There are people on the other platforms who will flat out not switch. Microsoft needs to ensure its other products are available particularly in this case where other office alternatives are encroaching on the same space. I'm pretty sure it is going to need a 365 subscription as well. So if anyone one on Android uses/wants/needs MS office on their platform, they got it; and Microsoft will be getting some money for it. Not that big of a deal I don't think.

[4hab]

I'm okay with that, since Android and iOS users have to register for Office 365 and have to pay constantly for Office, while the Windows Phone /Windows RT group gets it for free. I dont see a big deal here either.

[JamesDax]

No!

[Chregu]

Let's face it. There are people on the other platforms who will flat out not switch. Microsoft needs to ensure its other products are available particularly in this case where other office alternatives are encroaching on the same space. I'm pretty sure it is going to need a 365 subscription as well. So if anyone one on Android uses/wants/needs MS office on their platform, they got it; and Microsoft will be getting some money for it. Not that big of a deal I don't think.

That's exactly what I think. Office is a strong devision of Microsoft and they want to sell their 365 subscriptions. Providing access from all platforms is a huge advantage.

Bringing Windows Phone 8 up to the competition is the move this platform needs, not exclusivity that hurts the core business.

[sdreamer]

Not right now. They need to be office 365 users. Once office fully transitions to that and everyone has office 365, then its a pretty even playing field. But by then wp9 would probably be out with other differentiating factors hopefully.

[mrdeeds_72]

For the average user I think not. But MS is again shooting itself in the foot with business and corporate users when they should have been leveraging and marketing the hell out of exclusivity.

This is a significant slash in the death of a thousand cuts imo.

[dc9super80]

Office was never a strong enough reason to warrant a switch of a platform especially one in which some have invested heavily. Having said that, Office accounts for a significant part of MSFT income, moreso than WP, so they have to ensure their customers, their Office customers are taking care of. I am a heavy office user, I use Office 365, and I installed it for a while on my phone, but I dont really use it. I have Office on my Laptop (a MacBook Air so portability is not a problem). I dont find my phone or tablet to be ideal for the kind of work I have to do in Office. My tablet (A Nexus 7) is only an entertainment device for that matter.

SO was it an advantage to WP? Sure. Did it give them a huge lead? No.

[tgp]

Bringing Windows Phone 8 up to the competition is the move this platform needs, not exclusivity that hurts the core business.

Excellent answer! WP should be able to stand on its own, not forcing users to it by exclusive apps. Anyway, WP has been around for almost 3 years, and obviously Office exclusion (until recently) did not drive users to it in hordes.

[TechFreak1]

Nope,

a) not every consumer will pick up a office 365 subscription other than a enterprise or business's implementing BYOD policies as it is cheaper than shelling out for company phones.

b) MS is transitioning to become a device and services company and in order to do so they must be relevant therefore as people have said it would make them reliant on it more.

Lets face it Google has started to creep into schools which was traditionally MS's domain. Also as office becomes more and more popular on Android it will most likely drive down the dependency on Google Docs thus ******* off Google more lol (less data to mine and sell) - hopefully this would enable people to make smoother transition from Android to WP.

[psudotechzealot]

Nope.

[michaelbsadler]

IMHO... this is a good move. I don't believe any part of this decision centred on the Android/WP8/iOS issues at all. What IS of enormous interest to Microsoft is getting corporates into a Microsoft-centric cloud. That means having a compelling BYOD story for bread-and-butter Corporate, Enterprise, Government, NGO/non-profit, etc, whose IT Shops want BYOD ASAP; even if just to head off BYOC :-)

If you have any doubts of just how good a move it is, just cast your mind back to TCP/IP, or X.500/X.400, or Java, or Perl, or... you get the picture. If its 'open', standardised (i.e. not Apple) and popular (a potential threat), Microsoft can 'embrace and extend' so quick it'll make your head spin.

With the corporate's in mind, I think the rusted-on MSDN folks will always have the edge WRT the app-cloud integration and especially AD-DS. If those developers can't leverage the WPx platform and OS to make better apps than Android/Java/Flash/iOS coders, then they'll deserve extinction. I think it very unlikely and moreover, predict upcoming Visual Studio releases to feature (good) Android dev tools; notwithstanding they'll never ship the same day as the Windows ones. Now, THAT is how you have your cake and eat it too :-)

[Iain_S]

Guys this is for your Office 365 subscription, which is different to what we have on our Windows Phones. Not really that big of a deal if you ask me.

[WanderingTraveler]

Considering the fact that they already have a ton of free alternatives to choose from, it's not really a big deal.