
Microsoft is reportedly losing a large fortune for every year that passes without a formal agreement to bring the full Office suite to Apple's iPad.
Microsoft has understandably given a massive competitive advantage to its Surface tablet by logically making the entire Office productivity suite compatible with the new product line. But it's difficult to find an industry analyst who thinks that Microsoft will gain any significant tablet market share at Apple's expense on the basis of this fact alone.
Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Holt is among those who believe Microsoft is missing out on a major payday.
Holt figures that if Microsoft were to release Office for iOS, pricing it at $60, it could potentially sell it to roughly 30 percent of iPad users. Extend that to an installed base of 200 million iPads in 2014, and Holt concludes that Microsoft would generate about $2.5 billion in revenue per year on Office for iPad — less Apple’s App Store commission.
In recent months, we've heard no shortage of rumors about Office either coming or not coming to the iPad. All we know for certain is that talks have taken place between Microsoft and Apple. But it doesn't look like the proposed revenue split was acceptable to Microsoft. The only question now is how much longer can Microsoft truly afford to not make Office available for iPad?
Source: All Things D
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