Weekend Watch: Office Mobile Comparison

Hello MNB Readers!

It is the weekend again and here is another video to watch while most of us have the opportunity rest from work, school and anything else that we have done for the last 5 days!

Microsoft’s announcement of Microsoft Office for the iPad was a HUGE announcement! Overshadowed by the iPad Office news was the late breaking news that Microsoft would be removing the Office 365 paid subscription requirement from the iPhone and Android versions of Office. What does that mean? Well, previously, with Office Mobile for iPhone and Android, the ONLY way you could edit a document in Office Mobile was to PAY a subscription fee. What this meant to smartphone users is that Windows Phone was the only current platform (Office Mobile is on Symbian and has free editing) that provided free editing in Office Mobile.

Has Windows Phone lost another advantage?

After examining the software on Windows Phone, Android and iOS, there are several differences that go beyond the visual differences that you will see in the comparison video. These differences, ensure that Windows Phone users still have the best version of Office Mobile.

While the 3 advantages highlighted in Green may seem small, in reality, the ability to open and save files to your device is a huge win for Windows Phone users! Having Office Mobile pre-installed is very important as well as that means EVERY Windows Phone user has Microsoft Office on their device. You don’t have to search for the app, use data to download it or even think about it. Office Mobile is just there when you need it.

Microsoft OS chief Terry Myerson recently talked about Microsoft’s cross platform initiative and he assured us that Windows users will always have the best versions of Microsoft software:

ZDNET: With CEO Satya Nadella talking up mobile first, cloud first — and strongly emphasizing cross-platform — does Microsoft’s value proposition remain that these things will be first and best on Windows?

MYERSON: It’s the right thing. I think it’s great customers would be using Office and understanding how productive Office is. That’s great for Microsoft.

The strategy is we want to win those users wherever they are. Windows is the best, so we’re going to see the best version there.

It isn’t by chance that only the Windows Phone version has the ability to open and save files directly to your device. It is currently by design, so that WP users (and Windows users in general) have the best version, the home field advantage and a reason to stick with the Windows ecosystem.

Well, enough of my rambling, on to the comparison video.

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM3Uwztzpvo

What do you think of Office Mobile on Windows Phone? Do you use it? How do you feel about Microsoft’s push to have their services on every device and operating system? Do you use Microsoft products on competing platforms such as Android, iOS, Symbian, Mac OS? Is it even important to you to be able to store and open files directly on your device or is the cloud sufficient? Let us know in the comments section below.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and thank you for choosing MyNokiaBlog!

Demitrius Harris

P.S. The video was recorded with a Nokia N8. 🙂

Tags: Android, comparison, iOS, Microsoft, Office, Video, Windows Phone

Category: Applications, Lumia, Nokia, Symbian, Windows Phone