Apple Exploits Microsoft Hesitation on Office

By Nick Wingfield
Timothy D. Cook, Apple's chief, at an event on Tuesday where the company announced that it would make its line of productivity apps free to anyone who buys new Macs and iOS devices. Jim Wilson/The New York Times

Updated, 5:04 p.m. | To reflect recent Microsoft remarks on iPad version of Office and a comment on Apple’s moves.

Microsoft may want to bring its Office applications to the iPad sooner rather than later.

On Tuesday, Apple made its own rival suite of productivity apps, iWork, free to anyone who buys new Mac computers and the company’s mobile devices, including iPads. IWork has been around for years, but it hasn’t inflicted much apparent damage on Office, one of the most resilient products at Microsoft.

But without the $9.99 fee that Apple charges for each of the three iWork applications — Pages, a word processor; Numbers, a spreadsheet app; and Keynote, a presentation app — that could change. The apps are free to people who buy new hardware from Apple, but not to the huge numbers of people who already own Apple devices. People who already have iWork can upgrade their apps free, too. (Technically, people who bought iOS 7 devices Sept. 1 or later, or a Mac on Oct. 1 or later, will also qualify.)

IWork applications include Numbers, a spreadsheet app; Pages, a word processor; and Keynote, a presentation app.

Microsoft sells an annual subscription to Office 365 for $100 a year.

Microsoft began working on an iPad version of Office some time ago — but for reasons that remain unclear, the company has not released it. Recently, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, confirmed that the company is working on Office for the iPad, but it didn’t say when it will release the product.

The company might want to give its Surface tablets an advantage since those devices come with copies of Office. New versions of the Surface tablets went on sale today.

The more difficult question for Microsoft is whether it can stomach sharing 30 percent of the sales of Office apps for iPad with Apple. That is the standard cut Apple takes for software sold through its App Store.

Asked about Apple’s decision to give away its iWork apps, Heather Knox, a senior director for Microsoft Office, said in a statement that a Web-based version of Office is the best free alternative to Microsoft’s traditional Office applications. “They extend the Office experience you know and love with anytime, anywhere online editing and collaboration,” Ms. Knox said.

Apple also took aim at the fees that Microsoft charges people who upgrade from one major release of Windows to another. Apple said existing Mac users can upgrade to the new version of the operating system, Mavericks, for free, waiving the $20 to $30 fee it has charged for such upgrades in the past.

Microsoft charges $120 for people who want to upgrade Windows 7 PCs to Windows 8.1, the latest version of the operating system. The upgrade is free if they have Windows 8 on their systems.