Why Microsoft Office For iOS Will Likely Never See the Light of Day

MojoKid writes "It has been over six years since Apple introduced the iPhone. Millions of apps have been written for the platform in that time, with collective downloads into the billions. Apple's App Store is a thriving marketplace with a huge amount of software available, except Microsoft Office. There's a version of Office for iOS supposedly in the works, but Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer threw cold water on the idea when asked about upcoming events for the Office suite after launching the new Office 2013 / Office 365 products earlier this week. Revenue sharing is reportedly a major sticking point. Microsoft is trying to push people towards yearly subscriptions with Office 2013 and Office 365, but Apple requires a 30 percent profit share on sales of any app in their store. Microsoft reportedly isn't thrilled at the idea of sharing that much revenue. It's ironic — when Bill Gates agreed to port Office to the Mac nearly 20 years ago, it was seen as a lifeline for the beleaguered manufacturer. Now, Microsoft is knocking on the door of Apple's business and Cupertino seems disinclined to answer."

Re:wtf

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

Windows 8 has a real chance at beating iOS/Android in the enterprise, which eventually makes it a challenger at home also, and this is in large part due to the ability to run Office - and *the full Office suite* at that. Why would Microsoft want to give away this advantage in exchange for short term Office sales?

<Homer Simpson voice>Mmmmmmm.... Kool-Aid....</Homer Simpson voice>

Re:wtf

[BasilBrush]

The first sentence is talking about how back when Apple was hurting and about to go out of business, Microsoft saved them by porting office to their platform.

You're confused. Microsoft created Microsoft Office for the Mac in 1989. More than a year before it appeared on WIndows. There was no porting of Office to the Mac. Rather it was ported from the Mac to Windows.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office [wikipedia.org]

You appear to have confused it with the settlement of their legal disputes in 1997, which included Microsoft promising to continue supporting Office:Mac. This was no altruistic gesture - this was part of a negotiated legal settlement.

Re: wtf

[Macgrrl]

I have worked in MS saturated environments for most of the last 20 years. The bit I find frustrating is how they try to 'help' you constantly.

If I wanted to indent that paragraph, I would have done so myself. No I really didn't want to apply the same formula to that cell. Stop moving my text boxes for me in Visio for $deities sake, I'd just gotten them aligned how I needed them.