Microsoft wants to provide Office for free for personal users who will be using the productivity software on a Windows device of 10.1 inches or less. Such users should be free to view, edit and create documents, enjoying a freemium experience, says the Microsoft Office blog. This move will bring Office access to Windows users in line with the way it is distributed to iOS and Android users. While most core essential features of Office will be free for smaller screened Windows device users, Microsoft will offer full advanced use via an Office 365 subscription.
Writing on the Office blog, Kirk Koenigsbauer explained that Microsoft had "carefully thought through the use cases and business implications involved," to categorise users and decide upon licensing models. To divide users between the 'personal' and 'professional' types Microsoft thought the most straightforward way would be though screen size; "Based on our research, we are classifying anything with a screen size of 10.1 inches or less as a true mobile device: You’re probably using it on the go, when it’s not practical to use a larger computing device such as a PC or a Mac. You probably aren’t using a mouse or a keyboard, instead navigating via touch interface. It's probably not a 'pro' category tablet that is used for design or presentations," wrote Koenigsbauer. Therefore, he summarised, "On these devices, the core editing and viewing experience is free, until you get to those premium, subscription features."
The freemium Office has done very well on iOS, says Microsoft. On iPad alone it has seen over 80 million downloads of its productivity software in under a year. It also seems like people are taking the bait and upgrading to an Office subscription, as Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal grew to more than 9.2 million subscribers in the last quarter, up 30 per cent. In business professional Office 365 subscriptions are up 88 per cent from a year ago.
Microsoft has chopped and changed its Windows and Office pricing and offers rather a lot over recent years, as it gets used to the tablet and smaller screened device market. Early tablets and convertibles offered Windows 8 with Microsoft Office 2013 Home & Student. Currently we have 10.1-inch and smaller tablets coming with Windows 8.1 with Bing and a free year of Office 365. In the future it looks like these 'personal' devices will offer Windows 10 and the freemium Office suite similar to the iOS/Android versions.
To push Office further on Android Microsoft has also recently announced partnerships with the likes of Dell, Samsung and others. These hardware partners will Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype on upcoming hardware this year.
