- More Office users
- Move from desktop to phones
- Dropbox to expand customer base
Microsoft looks forward to getting mobile users hooked on its Office software
Looks like a lot of mergers, acquisitions and partnerships are going around in the tech world and this time its Microsoft’s turn which is making all efforts to ensure that its Office software gets popular among the mobile users. And in pursuit of this, the software giant has teamed up with the online storage service Dropbox Inc. Considering that Dropbox is still working towards expanding its business environment and Microsoft too is pushing people to adopt their OneDrive storage service it won’t be wrong to say that the two are still competing on the business level.
Kirk Koenigsbauer, a Microsoft Office vice president, has revealed the crux of the partnership which is going to allow Office users to access Dropbox from mobile applications and edit files in Dropbox. However those users who are using Windows or Windows Phone versions of Office are going to have to wait for the features since Microsoft is initially rolling out Dropbox-enabled Office apps for Apple Inc.’s iOS and Google Inc.’s Android in the next few weeks. This might sound odd to many of us since Microsoft would usually have catered to the Windows apps first.
Apparently this shift in priorities has occurred because Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella wishes to compete in Internet-based cloud services and in mobile. This decision is part of his plan to turn around the world’s largest software maker. If more and more people are attracted towards using Office apps on their phones, the company’s products will be used widely as there is a shift in trend from the desktop computers to the smaller portable devices.
Wes Miller, an analyst at Kirkland, Washington-based Directions on Microsoft, says “It’s not so much about making sure that Windows is the first and foremost, it’s making sure Microsoft services are available regardless of what device is in use.”
Dropbox has remained quite firm when it comes to its existence. The company has made a strong position in the market and currently it has 300 million users, and was valued at $10 billion when it raised financing in January. This partnership with Microsoft has created some buzz in the tech world because prior to this deal, Dropbox turned down Steve Jobs when he offered to buy the company in 2009. But the deal with Microsoft is different and it has offered something big for Dropbox who is currently looking for ways to attract more corporate customers and this is going to provide them with the perfect opportunity to do so.
The business services of the company were updated in April and the company has sought to allay any security concerns by companies that block Dropbox from their networks for fear of any sensitive documents or information leaking out. Ilya Fushman, head of product for Dropbox, says “Certainly on the desktop they’ve had a great experience – – we’re looking to bring that to mobile and the Web.”
source: businessweek
You Might Also Like
