Microsoft Doesn't Seem To Be Fooling Anyone With Its New Office For iPhone App
The app, called Office Mobile for Office 365 Subscribers, is getting a mostly negative reception from users on Apple's iTunes store.
More than 55 percent of the 747 reviewers have rated the app one star out of five, and there are 56 pages of comments, many from users angry that Microsoft requires them to have an Office 365 Home Premium subscription to use it.
Home Premium starts at $100 per year and includes access to cloud-based versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and other apps for up to five devices.
Microsoft is entitled to charge for its app, of course. But users are frustrated that they are being asked to pay an annual subscription when the iPhone app only includes a slimmed-down set of features.
Many reviewers also pointed to the absence of an iPad tailored version of the app. Frank Gillett, an analyst with Forrester Research, thinks it's no accident that Microsoft hasn't released one.
"In their eyes, not providing Office for iPad will motivate people to buy Windows tablets. That's baloney. People have already bought iPads," Gillett told Computerworld's Gregg Keizer earlier this week.
Microsoft has long believed that Office is something mobile users crave, which is why it only offers it on Windows Phones. With the new iPhone app, it seemed that Microsoft had perhaps changed its mind.
But judging from from what users and reviewers are saying, Microsoft isn't fooling anyone with Office Mobile for Office 365 Subscribers.
The New York Times' David Pogue had some fun with Microsoft's choice of name, though: He described it as "impressively clunky," in a review earlier this week.