TechDomino
Google buying QuickOffice last year was a big deal, because it shows that Google is very serious about taking on Microsoft in the Office space in the enterprise market. Making it free for Google Apps for Business shows just how aggressive they are going to be about it.
QuickOffice
Google Apps already offers the Google Docs office suite for the users, but that is web-only. Google wants to attract as many customers as possible in enterprise, and mobile is becoming a big part of that market, which means Google needs a better solution for an office suite for mobile devices than Google Drive. They need something that works a lot better, with native performance, rather than rendering Javascript-based web apps on the weak mobile chips.
That’s how they ended up buying QuickOffice last year, which was one of the most popular Office suites on all mobile platforms, including Android and iOS. Google now has a native Office app that their customers, and all their users can use, and it looks like they are making it available for free, at least for Google Apps for Business users. We don’t know yet if everyone will soon be able to get it for free, too.
Threat to Microsoft’s Office
Even if they won’t give it away for free to most users, QuickOffice for Android and iPad is still a major threat to Microsot’s Office. Microsoft is now selling Office for $140 for students to up to $400 for the enterprise. Sure, Microsoft’s Office is a much more advanced Office suite, but most users don’t need all the bells and whistles, which means they’d much rather pay $10-$15 for a QuickOffice suite, than $100-$200 for the mobile version of Microsoft’s Office, which is supposed to arrive soon for both Android and iOS.
No matter how they play this, whether they try to stay competitive on price, and make MS Office $10, too, or keep it at $140 with nobody wanting to pay for it, Microsoft still loses in both scenarios. In the first one by making too little money, and undercutting the PC business too much, and in the second, by losing out on the huge Android and iOS markets. In both scenarios, QuickOffice, along with other such OfficeSuite are a big danger to Microsoft’s Office business in the future.
