Microsoft Outlines Plan To Sell Office, OneCare For $70 A Year
Seattle – Long since, customers have demanded for an affordable subscription-based service for what has typically been professed as Microsoft’s steeply-priced software. And, if seventy bucks a year seems affordable enough, it has finally arrived!
Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday announced that by mid-July it will start selling its Office programs to consumers on a subscription basis, in a bid to reach prudent PC buyers who would otherwise pass on productivity software.
The software giant is calling the service “Equipt,” and has exclusively teamed up with retailer Circuit City to offer a consumer software subscription service that includes its Office, Windows Live OneCare, Messenger, and Photo Gallery applications and services.
The Equipt service will also add the Student versions of Word, Excel, Power Point and OneNote in a single package. Additionally, the bundle will include Microsoft’s OneCare security suite and a range of Windows Live web services, including webmail, instant messaging and photo hosting.
Equipt, which was introduced under code-name “Albany,” will be available for $69.99 a year and cover use of the included software on up to three PCs, according to Microsoft. Subscribers will automatically receive upgrades to the products at no additional charge as they are released.
The move may also set the stage for Microsoft to offer its consumer-oriented programs as “services” over the Web, by acclimating people now to the new pricing model such a shift could require.
By giving the software subscriptions to consumers, Microsoft is taking a page from its business playbook. The company offers its commercial customers subscription access to software and services under programs such as Open License and Select Plus.
Microsoft and Circuit City officials are expecting that the subscription model — which offers predictable costs and convenient, all-in-one packaging — will catch on in the home market. Microsoft Office product manager Bryson Gordon called Equipt “a convenient and affordable way to stay updated with the latest versions of Office and Windows Live OneCare.”
Buying those programs the traditional way would cost about $200, and then consumers who wanted to replace the software with the next version, “Office 14,” rumored to be set for a 2009 release, would have to pay full price.
“Under the new subscription model, upgrading to a new version is included in the annual cost.”
The Equipt package will initially only be available through US electronics retailer Circuit City, which runs some 700 stores nationwide.
“We are improving our customers’ computing experience by giving them essential software in a package that offers an easy install and setup experience,” said Gordon.
Gordon said Equipt is aimed at people who would not ordinarily buy Office at the same time they purchase a new computer. Instead, they would repurpose their old Office disks or pirate a friend’s copy, he said.
Equipt may appeal to consumers who want to stay on technology’s cutting edge. However, most desktop users only use their applications’ most basic functions and as a result do not require frequent upgrades. Given that the Home version of Office 2007 now sells for just $112 for lifetime rights, the latter group would likely see Equipt, with its $69.99 annual fee, as a bad bargain.
Circuit City technology merchandise general manager Elliot Becker said the chain, which saw its stock price drop by more than 17% Wednesday after Blockbuster abandoned a $1.35 billion buyout offer, said he expects Equipt to be “a runaway hit.”