Software developer Microsoft Corporation MSFT took a step closer to cross-platform dominance with the official launch of Office for Android phones. The launch comes five weeks after Microsoft released the suite of applications as a preview in May.
MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps have the full application status on Android and are now available for a download from the Google GOOGL Play store. But these apps require minimum 1GB of RAM and Android 4.4 KitKat or later versions of the operating system.
The launch follows Microsoft’s big Office news in November last year, when it announced that there is no requirement of a subscription for the mobile edition of its office suite. This means that the Office suite for Apple’s AAPL iPad, iPhone, and Android are now free and no Office 365 subscription is required to create or edit documents or store them in the cloud. Then, in January, Microsoft launched Office for Android tablets.
The latest move clearly reflects Microsoft’s cross-platform vision for delivering its services. It will make its services available worldwide. This will help it to attract millions of Android users to its ecosystem with free access.
Microsoft has also partnered with more than 30 global, regional and local OEMs including Samsung, Sony SNE and LG, to pre-install these apps on Android devices and many of these devices will be available in retail stores later this year.
There was a time when Office was tied to Windows PCs but now the company wants to bring the flagship productivity suite everywhere. The move will help the software developer make good on sales it was losing out to competing productivity solutions.
Microsoft remains one of the best positioned software vendors, given its wide range of products, strength in emerging markets, continued technology deployment at data centers and growth in cloud computing.
The largest software developer seems focused and optimistic about its cloud-first mobile-first strategy. Its cloud and mobile technologies are expected to be a major growth driver in the near future. With the latest move, the company can make its services available to millions regardless of the device used.
Microsoft has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
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