Microsoft Finally Gets Office On iPad and Apple Gets a Slice of the Profits

Today, Microsoft released their Office for iPad suite. This suite consists of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote (It should be noted that OneNote was already on the Apple App Store). These apps require an Office 365 subscription ($99.99) to be able to edit documents. What's interesting to note is how Office 365 is purchased. You can purchase a subscription from Microsoft directly or through an in-app purchase through the Apple App Store. The guidelines for the Apple App Store state that Apple receives 30% of all App Store purchases. That means if you buy an Office 365 subscription through the in-app purchase, Apple will receive about $30 from your purchase. However, if you buy it through Microsoft, Microsoft gets 100% of the purchase. It is thought that this is the reason Office hasn't been on the iPad before. Microsoft Word [Direct Link], Microsoft Excel [Direct Link], Microsoft PowerPoint [Direct Link], and Microsoft OneNote [Direct Link] are available from the Apple App Store on iPad for free. The Office 365 subscription is available for $99.99 from multiple retailers and the Office apps mentioned above (excluding OneNote).