After an initial rush, downloads of Microsoft’s free Office for the iPhone have tailed off, data from a mobile app analytics company showed Sunday.
At least 200,000 copies of the small suite – iPhone versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint – were downloaded in the first six days.
Distimo, a Dutch firm that tracks app store market data for several platforms, including Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, and Microsoft’s Windows 8 and Windows Phone, said Office Mobile for the iPhone debuted in the number 10 spot on 15 June, the day after Microsoft launched the free app.
That was Office Mobile’s peak: On 16 June, Office Mobile slipped to 19th place among all free iPhone apps, then continued to slide throughout the week of 17-23 June, starting that seven-day stretch in 36th, falling to 86th by Friday, 21 June, and ending at at 299th on 23 June.
From 24 June to 6 July, Office Mobile was not on Distimo’s leaderboard, which lists the top 400 downloaded apps.
The number of downloads of Office Mobile for iPhone is unknown – Distimo requires a paid account to show developers the estimated downloads of their apps and those of competitors, and did not reply to questions Sunday – but the tally was probably significant.
According to Distimo, to place in the App Store’s number 10 spot, an app must average 72,000 downloads daily. Office Mobile was ranked 10th on 15 June. Apps ranked at number 50 averaged 23,000 downloads daily: Office Mobile held position at 50th or lower for five consecutive days.
Those numbers implied that at least 200,000 copies of Office Mobile were downloaded in the six days between 15-20 June.
Likewise, the sharp decline of Office Mobile’s position in the App Store’s free list after just a week hints at a pent-up demand that was quickly satisfied.
Although rumours of Office on iOS had circulated since the iPad’s 2010 introduction, they heated up last November when reports claimed Microsoft would launch a mobile version of the suite this year and tie the software to Office 365. At the time, analysts agreed that Office 365 was the smart move because it could boost interest in the subscription concept Microsoft has bet will result in more, and more regular, revenue from its Office cash cow.
Linking Office on iOS to Office 365 would also let Microsoft avoid the Apple ‘tax’ – the 30% cut that Apple takes from all App Store sales.
Only Office 365 subscribers can use Office Mobile. Subscriptions range from the consumer-grade Office 365 Home Premium, which costs €99 annually, to business plans that start at $150 per user per year and climb to €228 per user per year for enterprises.
Office Mobile for iPhone is primarily designed for Word, Excel and PowerPoint file viewing, but users can also create new documents and edit existing ones.
IDG News Service







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