DMSD Insider: Microsoft Office for the iPad is all about the Enterprise

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Microsoft Office for the iPad is all about the Enterprise

Microsoft Office for the iPad is all about the Enterprise:

It appears that Microsoft may finally unveil an iPad version of its bread and butter Office productivity suite. More interestingly, the launch seems to timed with a possible on stage presentation at the iPad 3 event in a few weeks. Remember when Roz Ho, former head of the MS Mac Business Unit was a staple at Apple events? Me neither.

But the question comes up: Why would Apple, who has been pushing its iWork apps on iPad since day one, want to give Microsoft a stage to showcase its competition? And why would Microsoft, who is readying its own Windows 8 tablets want to empower Apple’s iPad with Office, thereby making its own Tablets less valuable when they hit the market …later.

Apple makes money selling hardware, Microsoft makes money selling software.

This has been true for over three decades but is easy to forget. Looking at Apple’s revenues and earnings, Apple makes what amounts to rounding errors on its software products when compared to hardware sales. Apple makes awesome software to sell its hardware. If Microsoft makes Office for iPad, that throws the doors wide open in Enterprise for iPad which has already seen a great deal more success than Macintosh ever did.

For Microsoft, the motivation is getting their tablet software in front of as many eyes as it can before competitors get there first. Microsoft’s Windows 8 tablets aren’t going to make a big splash (if at all) until a year from now. Believe it or not, a well executed Office for tablet experience could cause a ‘halo’ when it is time for Enterprises to buy Windows Tablets.

Also, I’ll bet Microsoft charges a significant bit more than $9.99/app. Rememeber, Microsoft sells software for big markets. This is how they make big money. There are now a boatload of iPads in the enterprise waiting for an Office suite that hooks into the back end.

And don’t forget, Microsoft always cripples its Apple software just enough to make it noticeably inferior to the Windows versions. How many years did Microsoft Entourage lack true Exchange capabilities for instance? When was Word finally able to connect to Sharepoint? Microsoft still sees Apple’s products as mere toys in the business world. I expect the exact same thing on iOS.

Microsoft can afford to make inferior product for Apple because Apple doesn’t care about Enterprise Software. It just isn’t in their DNA. Think iCloud for Enterprise is coming soon? Corporate IT departments aren’t thinking that Pages, Numbers and Keynote are suitable Office replacements, especially in an age where everything is hooked together with Microsoft’s backend suite of Sharepoint, Exchange, etc. Apple might be interested in connecting Mail to Exchange with some contacts and calendaring but there is very little chance of iWork connecting to Microsoft’s BackOffice suite.

And there is one other major factor:

Google

Yes, the enemy of my enemy works in both cases here. Apple, after letting Android slip past it in phone sales, doesn’t want to let the same thing happen in tablets (even though its current lead would seem insurmountable). Doing everything possible to get iPad entrenched in the enterprise before Google can get there is a huge priority. Yesterday, Google released a collaborative Google Apps App for Android which could be its first real Office competitor.

Google would love to see its Android tablets make their way into the enterprise and with vendors like ASUS, Samsung, Acer and Motorola already having big business contracts, Google has a little bit of leverage.

Microsoft, who has been watching Google’s Enterprise Apps eat away at its core business for years needs to have a tablet Office competitor now, not in a year when Windows 8 starts shipping in quantity.

Is Office for iPad happening? It feels pretty likely at this point and more importantly, it makes a lot of sense.