Microsoft’s Mobile Office Suite is Now Free on iPad, iPhone, and Android

This comes right on the heels of Microsoft striking a deal with Dropbox. Users will no longer need Office 365 subscriptions to edit and store documents in the cloud, which might not seem to make sense given how hard they were pushing Office 365, but their explanation makes sense. The way Microsoft sees it, their web apps are already free, so moving that model to mobile apps is just the next logical step.

In yesterday’s post about the Dropbox deal, I suggested Microsoft’s key focus was getting people to use Office 365. I was half right. Microsoft seems to be pushing Office in general, so getting people hooked on the mobile apps is a good way to make sure they’re still using Office at home. And this free deal is only for individual users. Businesses still have to pay to the use the online suite, so Microsoft will still have plenty of money rolling in from that.

There’s also iWorks, Apple’s free suite of iOS apps, and the threat they pose. By eliminating the cost for mobile Office, Microsoft does a lot to even the playing field.

via The Verge