Google developed a Quickoffice mobile app and made it free for everyone

Google's Quickoffice apps for iOS and Android, that allows users to view and edit Microsoft Office files easily, and are now free to anyone with a Google account.

Google's Quickoffice mobile apps are now free for everyone.

Google

Google is trying to make it easier for everyone to work together, even those who "haven't gone Google yet."

The company on Thursday announced that its Quickoffice mobile app, for viewing and editing Microsoft Office files, is now free to anyone with a Google account. Previously, the app was only free to Google Apps for Business subscribers -- everyone else had to shell out $14.99 for the pro version or $19.99 for the pro HD version.

As a bonus, Google is offering an extra 10GB of Google Drive storage for the next two years to anyone who signs up their Google account for the new Quickoffice app by September 26.

Quickoffice for iOS and Android lets users create, view, and edit Microsoft Office Excel, Word, and PowerPoint files on their mobile devices. The app is also integrated with Google Drive so files can be stored and accessed across devices.

Google added a few new features to the app as well, including the ability to create ZIP folders and view charts in PowerPoint and Excel. Google said people already using Quickoffice for Google Apps for Business can update to the new app.

Google acquired Quickoffice in June 2012 and has been expanding its availabilityever since. While the company is clearly investing resources in the software, its long-term goals still appear aimed at transitioning people to using its Web-based productivity tools.

"Converting old files to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides is still the easiest way to share and work together, and we're working every day to make the files you convert look better," Alan Warren, engineering VP of Google Drive, wrote in ablog post.

Microsoft's Office 365 Consumer Edition Doubles To 2M Subscribers SinceMay

by ALEX WILHELM 

Today at its analyst event, Microsoft announced a new milestone for its Office 365 Home Premium product: 2 million subscribers. That’s up 100%, or 1 million subscribers, since May 29th. Office 365 Home Premium is the company’s cloud productivity suite for consumers that they pay for on a subscription basis.

Previously, Microsoft touted that it had signed up its first 1 million consumer subscribers for Office 365 Home Premium in 100 days. It has been 113 days since it announced the 1 million figure. So, Microsoft, presuming that it reached the 2 million mark today, is adding subscribers at almost the same pace as it did around the launch period.

However, as Microsoft is simply stating that it has “more than” 2 million Office 365 Home Premium subscribers, it would not surprise me if the product was either keeping pace with its former sales levels, or has accelerated slightly. At 2 million subscribers, Office 365 Home Premium is a $200 million yearly business.

Office 365, Microsoft said today, was (as a total product) the fastest Microsoft service to $1 billion in yearly revenue run rate in the history of the company. Here’s the slide that details the 2 million figure:

Power outage halts Microsoft's financial analyst meeting

Shortly after the closely-watched annual meeting's live stream went dark, the company tweeted, "Fuse blew in the building. Power went down. Should be restored shortly."

Microsoft

In the middle of Microsoft's closely-watched annual financial analyst meeting, a blown fuse shorted out some of the power in the company's Redmond, Wash., campus headquarters, causing the meeting's live stream19/09/2013 11:58 PM to go dark.

Shortly after the live stream was interrupted, Microsoft tweeted this news:

Fuse blew in the building. Power went down. Should be restored shortly

— Microsoft News (@MSFTnews)September 19, 2013

GameCase unveiled as the first iOS 7 game controller

Following news that Apple would support Bluetooth game controllers with iOS 7, ClamCase gives the first concrete look at the future of iOS 

GameCase