Microsoft exec: More multi-platform mobile products coming in 2012
Summary: Watch for Microsoft to continue to roll out more of its productivity wares on non-Microsoft platforms in 2012, an official with the Office 365 team says. — It was a week of rapid-fire releases of Microsoft apps …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft had already outlined a plan to bring its BI tools to iOS, Android and Windows 8 devices in October 2011. The Office 365 team’s pledge of additional mobile productivity products turns that cross-platform BI approach into a broader distribution direction.
The significance is that Microsoft is positioning productivity software to reach users beyond its own device platforms, tying the value of its business software more closely to availability across mobile operating systems.
First-order effects
- Microsoft’s Office 365 team will expand the addressable audience for its productivity products by releasing more mobile software on non-Microsoft platforms in 2012.
- Users on non-Microsoft mobile platforms gain access to a broader set of Microsoft productivity tools rather than being limited to Windows-based devices.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft’s mobile offering will compete for user attention and business-software usage on iOS and Android on application quality and availability, not solely on Windows device adoption.
- The earlier BI-device plan and the broader productivity pledge give Microsoft a common reason to develop and maintain experiences across multiple mobile platforms.
Third-order effects
- If Microsoft applies the approach across its productivity portfolio, enterprise software distribution shifts toward services and applications that travel with the user across device ecosystems.
- The move points to access-layer power moving from the operating system alone toward the productivity service available across operating systems.
The trend: Microsoft is moving from platform-exclusive productivity software toward cross-platform mobile distribution, using its applications to reach users wherever they work.