Microsoft shocked the world when it ended up releasing touch-centric Office apps for the iPad (out of all tablets) earlier this year. And now we have information just how successful these apps have been.
During TechEd conference - which is currently taking place in Houston, Texas - Microsoft Office General Manager Julia White spoke. She revealed some figures that shed some light on how hungry the iOS public was for real productivity apps on the tablet.
The apps have accumulated a total of 27 million downloads, she said. This news follows other great news related to the suite from April: the fact that the apps were downloaded 12 million times in a single week. Keep in mind that the apps have been sitting near the top of Apple's "Free" charts for quite some time. In fact, one day after launch, Word for iPad became the most popular app to be downloaded in its category.
The apps are listed as free on iTunes, but required a subscription to Microsoft's Office 365 service. This is arguably the one downside of the apps because Microsoft doesn't offer an option to purchase them at a premium price, for instance the way Apple prices iWork apps for $9.99 each.
Office for iPad right now requires a subscription to Microsoft's Office 365 service, which will send its users back $99 per year or $9.99 per month. This is the one downside that has prevented many new users to Microsoft's ecosystem from trying out the apps and features it offers.
The three apps part of the suite thus far include Word, Excel and PowerPoint - the bread and butter of the entire desktop suit, which are all available on the iPad. Even without the subscription, it is still possible to view, albeit not create or edit, documents. What will be interesting is to see figures or data that show how many new subscribers Microsoft has gained from the iPad apps being released -- vs the already-subscribers who happened to have an iPad downloading it.
TechEd is an annual event that focuses on Microsoft's products and partners. Be sure to tune in to TechEd for coming updates and information related to Office or other Microsoft news. You can get the schedule of what to expect from the event here.
