Microsoft Could Make $2.5B By Releasing Office On iPad

According to Adam Holt, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, Microsoft could make an estimated $2.5 billion if it releases its Microsoft Office software on iPad. This, however, doesn't include the commission Apple would take from the sales of the Office apps in its App Store. When asked if Microsoft Office would be coming to the iPad, Kurt DelBene, head of the Microsoft Office unit, was a bit evasive.

DelBene would emphasize that iPad owners could use the online versions of the Microsoft Office apps, but the web applications are known to have their fair share of problems, which is something that could be remedied with an official app. DelBene replied to one of the questions with, "Do we need to have the PC software that's running on every single device?. We look very much at 'What is the experience that we are looking to have on those devices'."

Reuters brings up a great point when they stated that putting Microsoft Office on iPads would prove to be detrimental to the sales of the Microsoft Surface tablets. One of the major pulls of the Microsoft Surface tablets is its amazing productivity aspect, and a major component of that is the native Office apps installed on it. It's arguably one of the best tablets for productivity, compared to Android tablets and iPads. To take away one of its major selling points would be counterproductive.

DelBene continued to emphasize the web versions of its Microsoft products, saying "We have enhanced the web applications pretty substantially, in partnership with Apple." DelBene didn't state specifically that they weren't going to ever release Microsoft Office onto the iPad. Perhaps when the Microsoft Surface tablets, and Windows 8 tablets in general, start getting enough traction, iPad owners will get their Office apps.

[via Reuters]