If you've been shopping for a copy of Office for Mac lately, you'll be paying higher prices than you would have just a few months ago. On Monday, Mac users began to realize Microsoft's quiet price hike thanks to an investigation by Computerworld—Office for Mac Home & Student went from $120 to $140, Home & Business went from $200 to $220, and multi-license editions no longer exist. This reflects as much as a 17 percent hike for the same product.
But while this was brought to the public's attention today, the price hikes most likely came last September when Microsoft announced the pricing of Office 2013. Though there's no clear evidence that the price of Mac Office was raised in September with the Office 2013 lineup, it seems the most likely explanation, as the prices now match across platforms. Computerworld, meanwhile, speculates that Microsoft raised the price in late January when Office 365 Home Premium was launched.
Regardless, unlike our Windows-using counterparts, Mac users are not getting any fancy new software for the newly bumped price. Office 2013 for Mac today is largely the same as it was in 2012 and 2011, but for $20 more. On the upside, a number of other retailers have held off on adopting Microsoft's pricing—Amazon, for example, still offers Home & Student edition for $121.
reader comments
94