Microsoft Launches Office 365 Home Premium While iOS Users Are Still Left Out In The Cold
by Brent Dirks
January 29, 2013
Yet another day has passed, and Microsoft still hasn’t released Office for iOS. But the company isn’t exactly sitting on its hands.
The tech giant was busy making Office news on Tuesday with the announcement of Office 365 Home Premium, an interesting subscription service. For $99 a year, consumers can install the newest version of Office on up to five computers – including Macs and PCs.
By using the cloud, Microsoft is also able to offer remote storage and consistently update the program so users will never have to upgrade to the latest version. Overall, it sounds interesting, and something that I might actually consider using.
But as AllThingsD pointed out, Microsoft had no news to report about Office for iOS, making the saga almost a year old.
The first inkling of Office for iOS came last February when the now defunct The Daily showcased a build of the productivity suite running on an iPad. Microsoft then denied the news.
Microsoft later announced in November, that yes, Office is actually coming saying “Office will work across Windows Phone, iOS and Android.” References to Office Mobile for iOS were even found on a Microsoft support site in December.
But then news leaked that the big holdup seemed to be Apple’s 30 percent take of any Office 365 subscriptions sold through the iOS app.
I’m personally a little tired of the saga. I was originally excited for any type of Office functionality on iOS devices, but as the months have passed, I think Microsoft may be dumb enough to permanently take a pass on iOS.