What the article overlooks is that the money Microsoft makes off selling individual copies of Office is a rounding error in their overall revenue. The money they make off selling thousand-seat licenses of Office, however, is not. The latter is not possible on iOS or Android.
I think you're absolutely right, but this falls in the category of a lot of the comments in this thread: the "for now" category. I think anyone who assumes that the iPad or something-like-the-iPad (Windows 8, if you like) isn't where the vast majority of the market is heading, is going to miss the boat. The history of business is filed with the tombstones of once profitable companies that missed the boat.
If Microsoft misses the boat it's not going to be because they didn't spend development time on unprofitable products like single-license Office for iPad. The winners of any movement are those who own the platform, Microsoft is correctly focusing their efforts there. The other option is to focus on software and become the next Atari.
Exactly. In other words, it would have been the PERFECT excuse for Microsoft to price-gouge the same customers that need thousand-seat Office licenses by not being able to offer them a discount.
