Word becomes the number one app in the store

Nov 11, 2014 12:49 GMT  ·  By

Last week, Microsoft decided to make the iPad and iPhone versions of its Office solution completely free for everyone, thus dropping the need for an Office 365 subscription for those who wanted to edit documents.

There's no doubt that this announcement, which apparently came out of nowhere and took everyone by surprise, convinced more Apple users to download and install Office apps on their devices, so it's no surprise that Word and Excel have experienced quite a huge success in the last few days.

At this point, Microsoft Word is the number one app in the Top Free iPhone Apps chart, while Microsoft Excel comes on the eighth position. Microsoft Word is also the top app in the iPad store, while Excel is third.

Microsoft is most likely very pleased with the success experienced by its Office apps on Apple's mobile platforms, especially because many users were actually really disappointed after this year's launch on iPad and iOS. Originally, Office was available with a freeware license only for users who wanted to use the app as a document viewer, while editing capabilities were offered with an Office 365 subscription.

Apple also offering its own solutions

Even though these download figures might not be surprising at first, it's worth taking into account the fact that Apple is also playing in the same league with Microsoft when it comes to productivity solutions, so all its customers get Pages, Numbers, and Keynote at no cost when purchasing iPhones or iPad.

Needless to say, Microsoft Office thus becomes a rival for the same user category, and Redmond clearly bets that the familiarity of its own solution, as well as the large userbase on all platforms, could make it the top choice when it comes to such software for Apple's mobile devices.

Windows 10 version also coming

Even though Microsoft focused so much on the iPad and iOS version of Office, and even introduced a preview build of the Android flavor, the company does not forget about the touch-optimized productivity suite for Windows tablets, which was initially expected to launch before the end of the year.

Microsoft has recently confirmed that Office Touch will debut together with Windows 10, which, according to people close to the matter, should see daylight in spring 2015.

At this point, we're hearing that Office Touch is already in advanced development stage, but the company only wants to bring it to the market together with Windows 10, most likely to stir up interest on its new products.

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