It seems the long-awaited Office Suite app for iPhone and iPad could be delayed because Microsoft is refusing to pay Apple's 30% cut for in-app purchases.
The new Office 365 suite, including Word, Excel, One Note and PowerPoint, is to be sold by subscription. And Apple is demanding its usual cut for in-app subscription payments in the iOS version.
Microsoft thinks that is too much, according to AllThingsD.
The row has apparently already delayed an update for Microsoft's SkyDrive cloud-storage app for iOS, which charges in-app for extra storage space.
Sources familiar with the ongoing negotiations between Apple and Microsoft tell AllThingsD that the companies are at loggerheads not over the 30 percent commission Apple asks of storage upgrade sales made through SkyDrive, but over applying that same commission to Office 365 subscriptions sold through Microsoft Office for iOS, which is expected to launch sometime next year.
Office has long been a cash cow for Microsoft, and extending the platform to iOS will undoubtedly fatten it further. It will also bring significant benefits to Apple’s mobile platform, ones for which Microsoft feels it is owed a discount on that 30 percent cut that Apple would otherwise command on Office 365 subscriptions sold to iOS users through it. The apps are just part of a subscription that includes desktop access.This really is the battle of the Silicon Valley giants and neither side is commenting officially.
(Source: AllThingsD)
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