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SEATTLE — Few golden geese in technology have survived as long as Office has for Microsoft.
The suite of applications that includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint, first released in 1990, generated nearly a third of Microsoft’s
revenue during its last fiscal year — about $26 billion of $87 billion
in total. By some estimates, the software accounted for an even higher
portion of the company’s gross profits.
But in a sign of the seismic changes underway in the tech industry, Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, said on Thursday
that it would give away a comprehensive mobile edition of Office. The
free software for iPads, iPhones and Android tablets will do most of the
most essential things people normally do with the computer versions of
the product.
Just
a few years ago, giving away a full free version of Office would have
earned a Microsoft chief executive a visit from a witch doctor. Now, the
move is following through on the rallying cry coming from Satya
Nadella, Microsoft’s new chief executive, who has pushed cloud and
mobile computing as lodestars for the company’s future.
Photo
A version of Microsoft Excel for the iPad.
The
old Microsoft hemmed and hawed about creating Office apps for mobile
platforms from Google and Apple, pushing its Windows platform instead.
But the center of gravity in the tech industry has quickly shifted to
mobile and cloud computing. And the company’s about-face comes after
rivals like Apple and Google and many of the most successful new
start-ups offered free software, often with premium perks for sale.
“Lots
of consumers don’t need a PC,” said Rick Sherlund, an analyst at Nomura
Securities. “They just need an Internet connection. They don’t need
Office as much.”
That
reality has started to weigh on Office. While sales of the software to
businesses grew about 8 percent last year, consumer revenue rose only 2
percent. Sales declined by double-digit percentage points during the
first two quarters of the year.
The
Office business suffered in recent years from a global slump in sales
of PCs, which were hurt as people began to do more and more basic
computing chores on tablets and smartphones. For years, Office was not
available on mobile devices, and many consumers began to wonder whether
they needed the software at all.
Those who needed productivity apps turned to free or cheap alternatives from Apple, Google and start-ups like Evernote.
The
outlook for Microsoft’s apps has improved in recent quarters with the
growth of Office 365, a cloud version of the product that includes
constantly updated apps, unlimited online file storage and free Skype
calling to traditional phones. Consumers pay $7 to $10 a month for the
service, rather than buying a copy of Office for about $150.
“We’d
like to dramatically increase the number of people trying Office,” John
Case, corporate vice president of Office marketing at Microsoft, said
about the new offering. “This is about widening the funnel.”
Microsoft
started to suggest a more open posture earlier this year, when it
released an iPad version of Office that could be used to read documents,
spreadsheets and presentations.
If
users wanted to edit or print those documents, though, they needed to
pay a subscription fee to Microsoft. Now Microsoft is doing away with
those hindrances. It is starting to test similarly full-featured and
free Office apps for tablets running Android, Google’s mobile operating
system. And it is updating Office apps for iPhone to allow editing, at a
time when Apple’s new big-screen smartphones are making it easier to
get work done on the devices.
Photo
A version of Microsoft Word, featuring review tools, for the iPhone.
Microsoft
says it has more than seven million consumers subscribing to Office
365. It also says there have been more than 40 million downloads of its
Office apps for the iPad. In its most recent quarter, which ended Sept. 30, Microsoft said its consumer Office revenue grew 7 percent.
By
making an unabridged version of Office available free for mobile,
Microsoft is betting it can get even more people to start using the
software, without stealing sales from the PC and Mac versions of the
product, where it still makes truckloads of money.
The
calculation is similar to the one made by software makers in the mobile
industry. Instead of the one-time fees long associated with software
sales, most app makers give away basic versions of their products — from
games to productivity software to online storage services — while
charging for premium features.
“We’re
seeing the consumer valuation for those things start to approach zero,”
said Wes Miller, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a research firm
that tracks the company.
Apple, for example, made its iWork suite
of productivity applications free a year ago for new buyers of Macs and
Apple mobile devices. Google has won converts to a free suite of Web
apps that competes with Office.
Microsoft announced this spring
that it would give away some versions of Windows, its other big cash
cow, to hardware companies that want to put it on devices with screens
smaller than nine inches.
It
was an attempt by Microsoft to claw its way out of a severe deficit in
mobile by encouraging more companies to make Windows smartphones and
tablets. Notably, the change in its terms did not include versions of
Windows for personal computers, which have larger screens.
One
view is that Microsoft has little to lose in giving away mobile
versions of its Windows and Office products. Its market share in
smartphones is in the low single digits. Only about 13 percent of
Microsoft’s Office revenue comes from consumers, estimates Mr. Sherlund,
the Nomura Securities analyst.
The
biggest risk to Microsoft is that, in the long run, the line it is
drawing between free mobile versions of Windows and Office and premium
versions for computers will not hold, as boundaries between devices get
blurry. If Apple and others create tablets that are more serious laptop
replacements, perhaps with detachable keyboards and mice, the case for
paying for a premium version of Office could get weaker.
Mr.
Case, Microsoft’s vice president of Office marketing, said the company
was walking a fine line by making Office free on mobile, but he expected
the impact would be positive for the company.
