Office for iPad Has 12 million Downloads in One Week

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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Office for iPad has only been available in the App Store for a week, but Microsoft Office has already been downloaded over 12 million times. So far, Office for iPad looks to be an unqualified success for Microsoft.

Microsoft offers its Office apps for free to all iPad users, but to do anything other than merely view your files you'll need an Office 365 subscription.
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Is this really a surprise? I know a lot of people around here think that an office productivity suite on a tablet doesn't make a lot of sense but for all of those that criticize Microsoft's ability to listen to its customers, there were plenty of Microsoft customers wanting and asking for Office on the iPad.
 
The download to view is free so this is no surprise, really. How many people who convert over to Office 365 to create is going to be the more important number. I don't suspect we will see that number unless it is also encouraging.
 
if I had a tablet (got rid of mine since I never use it)

Assuming I was using it actually for work on the go... 90% of the time I will just want to proof a document, or read something that someone else created. Actual authoring on any tablet device is pretty lame. And to be honest if I saw a so called "professional" using nothing BUT an ipad or android tablet as their platform for doing business, then I would seriously re-think why am I even doing business with them in the first place.
 
collegeboy69us said:
And to be honest if I saw a so called "professional" using nothing BUT an ipad or android tablet as their platform for doing business, then I would seriously re-think why am I even doing business with them in the first place.
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Sadly people take these seriously, they might even be dumb enough to think the person is innovative and progressive by using a tablet for "productivity". Even ignoring how awful touch keyboards are, touch UI's are atrocious, non-standard, and just...slow.
 
lilbabycat said:
Sadly people take these seriously, they might even be dumb enough to think the person is innovative and progressive by using a tablet for "productivity". Even ignoring how awful touch keyboards are, touch UI's are atrocious, non-standard, and just...slow.
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Just because you can't use them doesn't mean everyone else can't.
 
xIronCrossx said:
Just because you can't use them doesn't mean everyone else can't.
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I have a Surface Pro. I'm a huge, HUGE fan of the device, and use it for *tons* of stuff. That it's not just a tablet, but a full Windows PC helps a lot. (I mean, good grief, I can run my full desktop copy of Adobe Photoshop or MS Visual Studio on it!)

I'd still never trust anyone who used that ONLY. The form factor and interface are just so, so inferior to a desktop PC - particularly a multi-monitor system - that there is no contest when it comes to real, serious, productivity.

Now, you aren't going to get my Surface Pro from me unless you pry it from my cold, dead, fingers - it's an amazing device. But it's still a million miles away from a 'primary productivity platform'. And the iPad or Android devices an order of magnitude further away from that.
 
not quite for me. I can already view my work using the Dropbox app, and I've got Office on the laptop, anyway. :)
 
*cough* bluetooth keyboards *cough*

But yes, tablets are lame as productivity platforms and I can see that 1 o/oo of the downloads will at best convert to subscriptions.
 
I have the Surface RT and Love it its more like a Laptop and my iPad or Nexus can ever be I sold the iPad and the Nexus 7 is... somewhere... I use the Surface for emails and meetings all the time, But I still have 2 full laptops and 11" and an 15" i7 Asus gaming laptop I can game on when on the road. but 95% of my work is still on my desktop. My wife and kids only ever want to use my Surface and no one even thinks about the Nexus 7.
 
collegeboy69us said:
And to be honest if I saw a so called "professional" using nothing BUT an ipad or android tablet as their platform for doing business, then I would seriously re-think why am I even doing business with them in the first place.
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Hahaha, seriously? I only ever take a tablet out to meetings or for field work. I only use the desktop when I'm in the office, so you will never see it or even know I have it. It's only your loss if you turn us down just because we show up to the sales meeting wielding iPads. Everything I need to do in the field I can do on my iPad either with a local app or by remoting in to my desktop. I'm not carrying around something that weighs at least twice as much all day with me just because some client thinks I should.
 
CEpeep said:
Hahaha, seriously? I only ever take a tablet out to meetings or for field work. I only use the desktop when I'm in the office, so you will never see it or even know I have it. It's only your loss if you turn us down just because we show up to the sales meeting wielding iPads. Everything I need to do in the field I can do on my iPad either with a local app or by remoting in to my desktop. I'm not carrying around something that weighs at least twice as much all day with me just because some client thinks I should.
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Unfair comparison, he said nothing but, you have a desktop.

I doubt you can make the statement that all of your work as a professional can be handled by a tablet. You should not run a business with 100% tablets, they exist, I've dealt with them, and it does not work.
 
Aireoth said:
Unfair comparison, he said nothing but, you have a desktop.

I doubt you can make the statement that all of your work as a professional can be handled by a tablet. You should not run a business with 100% tablets, they exist, I've dealt with them, and it does not work.
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I have a desktop, but he will never see it and as far as he is concerned, it doesn't exist. Every time he meets me in a professional capacity, I will be with a tablet.

I disagree that you couldn't run a business entirely on tablets. The one I work for would never work that way (we need computers in order to build the apps and websites people use on their tablets), but plenty of retail businesses and restaurants use only a Square Point-of-Sale terminal and no other computers. Even back in the office, you can do almost everything you'd need to with another iPad running the Square management app. One of our clients has a successful business with over a dozen employees that they run using no technology besides iPhones. No technology is going to help someone without any business sense run a business, but there is also no particular technology that is requisite to having a successful business. You should use whatever works for you and lets you spend time making great quality work for your customers. If that's a computer, a tablet, a phone or just a plain old spiral-bound notebook, who cares, as long as the customer is happy?
 
oh, i see, proof that the people who use office (via 365) on windows have bought ipads. lol
 
JohnnyGatt said:
I have the Surface RT and Love it its more like a Laptop and my iPad or Nexus can ever be I sold the iPad and the Nexus 7 is... somewhere... I use the Surface for emails and meetings all the time, But I still have 2 full laptops and 11" and an 15" i7 Asus gaming laptop I can game on when on the road. but 95% of my work is still on my desktop. My wife and kids only ever want to use my Surface and no one even thinks about the Nexus 7.
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Looks kind of like you wrote that on a tablet ;)
 
I still don't get office applications on tablets or phones more more than just viewing. GIve me a mouse and keyboard anyday.
 
Ok So here i was reading all these headlines thinking... WHAT?! A few Apple fanboys whinge about not having Office and MS just rolls over and gives it away?!?! Now i read here that its just a "Viewer". And i'm wondering what all the fuss is about if that is the case? Big whoop... an office document viewer from MS.

I thought it was something serious like an actual version of Office. lol
 
HoffY said:
Ok So here i was reading all these headlines thinking... WHAT?! A few Apple fanboys whinge about not having Office and MS just rolls over and gives it away?!?! Now i read here that its just a "Viewer". And i'm wondering what all the fuss is about if that is the case? Big whoop... an office document viewer from MS.

I thought it was something serious like an actual version of Office. lol
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Well, they are full editors so long as you have an Office 365 subscription. Not that there weren't other options available prior to this, but it's nice to have them by Microsoft that actually work correctly with their X formats.
 
HoffY said:
Ok So here i was reading all these headlines thinking... WHAT?! A few Apple fanboys whinge about not having Office and MS just rolls over and gives it away?!?! Now i read here that its just a "Viewer". And i'm wondering what all the fuss is about if that is the case? Big whoop... an office document viewer from MS.

I thought it was something serious like an actual version of Office. lol
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It is a fully featured version of Office, it just requires a subscription. Without a subscription, the free app works only as a viewer.

Honestly the most interesting thing to me about this app is that users of Windows 8 tablets have been waiting as long as a year and a half for a "touch-first" version of Office. Now that Microsoft has finally built one, they decide to launch it on iOS first.
 
xIronCrossx said:
Just because you can't use them doesn't mean everyone else can't.
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Exactly. Tablets with digitizer screens are fabulous note taking devices. The precision of the pen teamed up with the versatility of OneNote (with the extra bonus that it saves your data locally and backs them up to OneDrive) makes the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 and the ASUS VivoTab Note 8 a welcomed addition to our project management and construction management firm, especially when it comes to conferences and meetings which occur almost every day.

I want to include my Surface Pro in that list, but it's a bit on the heavy side to be a great note taker. The Lenovo and ASUS is as light as a feather.

Nobody's asking tablet users to work in AutoCAD or Photoshop or input schedules in Primavera P6. Proper tools for the job is the name of the game. Use a screwdriver instead of a butter knife.
 
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