Microsoft Services are available on more devices than ever before through Agreements with...

[Guest Nick Parker]

In a mobile-first, cloud-first world, it’s mobility of the experiences that matter to people, and devices are critical to bringing this to life for consumers, businesses, developers and IT. Our aspiration at Microsoft is to continue to build and grow a vibrant community of billions of people who love and rely on Microsoft experiences, on any device, across all aspects of their daily lives.

 

To achieve this, Microsoft has been working hard to win over the hearts and minds of our partners and customers. We’ve re-engineered many of our flagship products to be more modern, we’ve made Office and some of our most popular services readily available on more platforms and devices than ever before, and we’ve acquired companies that can help us realize our vision as we rethink traditional productivity.

 

Last spring, we made access to Microsoft apps and services on mobile devices easier for customers through strategic agreements with 31 global and local OEMs and top original device manufacturer partners to pre-install Microsoft Office, OneDrive and Skype on Android tablets. Today I’m excited to announce that there are now 74 hardware partners in 25 countries who are making Microsoft productivity applications and services available on their Android tablets and phones. These partners offer or will soon offer Android devices pre-installed with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype. Office and Microsoft services are available on a wide variety of Android devices today, such as the LG G Pad 2, Samsung Galaxy S6, Sony Xperia Z4 and many other tablets and phones offered by our partners. Specific offerings may vary by device.

 

Our strategic agreements with these partners, in which IP alignment is an important feature, demonstrate how Microsoft is leveraging the scale of the hardware ecosystem, and working with partners in new ways to deliver rich experiences to our customers. This is a cornerstone of our broad services strategy, to bring an array of Microsoft services to every person on every device. By pre-installing Microsoft software and services on Android tablets and phones, our partners are able to increase the value of those devices by delivering the rich productivity experiences customers want. In addition, partners will be able to take advantage of opportunities to realize new revenue streams.

 

We are thrilled that hardware partners are bringing new value to customers by installing Microsoft apps and services on their Android devices. We look forward to further expanding these partnerships to help bring Microsoft services vision to life.

 

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