Samsung have announced the intention to expand on a recent partnership with Microsoft, and offer pre-installed Microsoft apps on select Android tablets.
Samsung have announced the intention to expand on a recent partnership with Microsoft, and offer pre-installed Microsoft apps on select Android tablets.
Microsoft’s entire Office suite – Word, Excel and Powerpoint – will arrive pre-installed on Android tablets alongside the company’s OneNote note-taking app, OneDrive cloud storage facility, and the popular video-calling service, Skype.
The move comes shortly after Samsung and Microsoft met an accord to allow certain Microsoft apps – OneNote, OneDrive, and Skype, specifically – on the company’s newest smartphone flagship, the Galaxy S6.
Further, both companies are fresh from a recent Android royalties dispute, which ended last month according to an official statement, and saw Microsoft earn at least $1 billion USD from Samsung in patent-licensing royalties over the course of 2013.
While it isn’t yet certain on which Samsung hardware Microsoft’s apps will arrive, it has been confirmed that such hardware will offer Microsoft’s productivity suite before the end of the first semester.
Additionally, the agreement between the two tech giants also stipulates that consumers who purchase relevant Samsung tablets directly from the company will also be able to purchase copies of Microsoft’s Office 365 subscription service.
The move is widely seen as an attempt by Microsoft to ensure its apps and services acquire a critical reach outside of the company’s own gestalt operating system, and wider ecosystem.
With the Redmond firm’s apps and services already established on Apple’s iOS operating system, as well as certain versions of Android, Microsoft appears to be intent on securing a presence on hardware produced by the world’s second largest phone manufacturer.
As Microsoft’s own mobile operating system – Windows Mobile – lags behind Android or iOS adoption rates, the company appears to be widening its grasp on a mobile productivity market which has the potential to escape the firm.
It is also widely speculated that the agreement will empower Samsung’s foray into enterprise, with wooing potential in Microsoft’s app suite coupled with the company’s KNOX security platform.
More news on which Samsung tablets will carry the pre-installed apps to follow.
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