Apple targets Microsoft, takes on MS Office with free iWork apps:
At an event meant to feature its latest iPad tablet computing devices, Apple on Tuesday took aim at one of rival Microsoft’s biggest and once unassailable businesses, its Office software for tasks like word processing and spreadsheets.
Apple said iWork, a set of applications for Macs, iPads and iPhones that essentially duplicates what Microsoft’s Office offers customers, will be free to anyone who buys a new Macintosh computer or mobile device from Apple. Each Apple app used to cost $10 apiece. The latest version of the Macintosh operating system, Mavericks, will also be free.
So far, Microsoft has had little success in that growing market. Its attempts to sell tablets have been failures, and Windows 8, which it has marketed as a software system for tablets and PCs, has gotten a chilly reception. What’s more, Microsoft still charges $120 for people who want to upgrade from the older Windows 7 system to Windows 8.
That shift to mobile devices and low-cost software is why Microsoft is trying to shift from being a traditional software company into one that sells Internet services and devices, said Ross Rubin, an independent consumer technology analyst for Reticle Research. The company could reduce the upfront price for its software and charge people more over time for the services through subscriptions. And with the release Tuesday of Microsoft’s new Surface tablets, the company is more aggressively marketing the online services available for it, like SkyDrive, a service for storing files on the Internet.
Microsoft’s chief executive, Steven A Ballmer, said recently that the company would bring a version of Office to the iPad and other touch devices, but the company has not said when that will be. It sells an annual subscription to Office 365 on other devices for $100 a year.
At an event meant to feature its latest iPad tablet computing devices, Apple on Tuesday took aim at one of rival Microsoft’s biggest and once unassailable businesses, its Office software for tasks like word processing and spreadsheets.
Apple said iWork, a set of applications for Macs, iPads and iPhones that essentially duplicates what Microsoft’s Office offers customers, will be free to anyone who buys a new Macintosh computer or mobile device from Apple. Each Apple app used to cost $10 apiece. The latest version of the Macintosh operating system, Mavericks, will also be free.
So far, Microsoft has had little success in that growing market. Its attempts to sell tablets have been failures, and Windows 8, which it has marketed as a software system for tablets and PCs, has gotten a chilly reception. What’s more, Microsoft still charges $120 for people who want to upgrade from the older Windows 7 system to Windows 8.
That shift to mobile devices and low-cost software is why Microsoft is trying to shift from being a traditional software company into one that sells Internet services and devices, said Ross Rubin, an independent consumer technology analyst for Reticle Research. The company could reduce the upfront price for its software and charge people more over time for the services through subscriptions. And with the release Tuesday of Microsoft’s new Surface tablets, the company is more aggressively marketing the online services available for it, like SkyDrive, a service for storing files on the Internet.
Microsoft’s chief executive, Steven A Ballmer, said recently that the company would bring a version of Office to the iPad and other touch devices, but the company has not said when that will be. It sells an annual subscription to Office 365 on other devices for $100 a year.
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