Have you seen the latest Surface commercials? They're the ones where Microsoft places Surface against an iPad and "Siri" laments all the things Surface can do that the iPad can't. Here's one of them.
They're funny, clever and attention-getting. And apparently they got Apple's attention. During yesterday's iPhone conference, there was a tiny detail thrown out offhandedly that was overshadowed by the new devices -- all new iOS devices will now come loaded with Apple's iWork productivity suite.
Suddenly there's one less omission Microsoft's Siri can worry about, and it's a big one.
For decades, Microsoft's Office suite has been one of the company's most dependable pillars. Everyone else was using it, so you might as well have used Microsoft's Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It was the default choice, and we kept on shelling out the steep asking price -- currently $140 if you're a student, $210 if not.
In fact Office has been one of the main selling points of Surface as well as traditional PCs, as Microsoft has refused to send Office over to other tablets. There are other options out there such as the free Google Docs, but many people like to stick with what they know and what comes with their hardware. Microsoft is so confident in Office they're now hoping people will take advantage of the option to pay $100 per year to use it.
Now there's a cheap and easy alternative, at least on iOS. Traditional users no longer have to fret about giving up productivity options when choosing a tablet, or put up with a steep price.
This is an aggressive move by Apple, and comes at a time Microsoft's especially vulnerable. Since so many people hate Windows 8, they're starting to question whether they should stick with the default. Microsoft can no longer depend on their long-time audience staying with them just because they have in the past.
Will Microsoft fight back? They should if they don't want sales of Surface to continue to stagnate and PC sales to continue to erode. Then again, doing so will erode or erase one of their most dependable sources of revenue. No matter how they react, they're in a tight spot.
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