The increasingly important need to win

Today Microsoft released Office Mobile for the iPhone, marketing the first core Microsoft product from their original wave of applications available on the mobile device. It’s been some time in coming; Microsoft Office was one of the most requested applications during last year’s developer conference and while Microsoft was seemingly drug kicking and screaming to the Apple finish line, the release of the app was met with general fanfare. Apple even promoted it on the home screen in the number one position: gloating or user service, it’s hard to say.

It’s not straight up Office of course; this version requires the Office 365 subscription ($99 a year) a fact that several angry users vented immediately about in iTunes Reviews. Then there seemed to be some core problems around copy and paste, and other basic features that users were quick to complain about. It also came in at a bewildering 55.3MB… just barely over the limit to download over the air. Perhaps the last isn’t so surprising: Microsoft has been staking the success of their next gen console on being always connected, so the requirement for WiFi here is in character.

But despite all of this, getting a useful and much requested product on the iPhone deserves some applause, right? Unfortunately the decision to not support the iPad was met with immediate frustration and calls of Microsoft trying to hold back the most obvious use case for the product for their own Tablet. Microsoft addressed the criticism in another familiar way: they didn’t. Back in January the definitive and somewhat frustrating statement, “Microsoft does not have anything to announce on the iPad” was all that was offered. Today there’s even less, and while Microsoft was likely hoping for some good press about the release they are instead getting the lack of iPad support written up in the subject line of the articles. Perhaps equally goofy; the apps will run on the iPad in the “2x” mode, which is annoying, but really just irritates their audience rather than pushes them into buying a Surface.

Office has been available on mobile before of course; Windows 8 phones have it and it isn’t tied to the 365 pricing plan. It also doesn’t count toward one of the five mobile devices permitted… Microsoft is clearly trying to stack the deck in their favor and you can’t fault them for that, Apple’s own productivity service iWork was announced this week at WWDC and is expected to be heavily pushed.

It has been an absolutely brutal month for Microsoft in the press; it’s high time for them to turn the corner. They need to change direction, change their messaging strategy, and perhaps more than anything recognize that they aren’t in the lead… they can’t stroll to the finish line. The world is begging for a hungry, aggressive Microsoft who is both realistic about their position and earnest in their desire to recapture their glory.