14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft officially introduced the new Office 2013 at the end of January, but the Office Store is still providing access to an amazingly small number of apps.
While that may be a bit disappointing for those who have already purchased the productivity suite, that’s about to change soon, Microsoft claims, as many more apps are expected to land in the Store in the coming months.
Richard Riley, Microsoft director involved in the SharePoint and Office App Store business, told ReadWrite that the company is expecting the number of apps available to Office users to grow bigger in the next semester.
“In terms of momentum and as we go through, I think in the next six months or so we'll see that momentum pick up and carry forward. I don't feel bad where we are. I really don't,” he said.
The surprising thing, on the other hand, is that Microsoft is also OK with no-names, as applications developed by world-renowned software companies may be late in the Office Store.
“I think it depends on how you look at it,” Riley told the source.
“You don't need big names to add value to a product. Would no-name graphics capability that you could get for free from the App Store, to make your Excel spreadsheet sing, and get a pat on the back from your boss, be more useful than a big-brand-name thing that wouldn't get you the same result? So we have the quality here, and in my experience, we don't need a laundry list of famous icons.”
The same happens with the Windows Store too, as the number of apps available to Windows 8 adopters is slowly increasing these days. Important apps are still missing from the Store, but several companies have already confirmed plans to port their software solutions to the new Windows contraption.