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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=1033
Microsoft-Apple Truce Produces Cheap, Bundled Office X
By Remy Davison, Insanely Great Mac
September 30th 2002
$199 limited-time bundle to be announced this morning.
Apple and Microsoft are expected to announce a Microsoft Office X bundle deal, which
prices Office at $199 with any new Mac purchase, according to c|net.
The deal follows criticism of Apple's OS X marketing by Microsoft's Mac Business Unit
General Manager, Kevin Browne, prior to MacWorld New York in July. The MacBU had seen
shipments of Office X fall well below expectations, with Office 2001 sales
outstripping those of v.X.
Apple Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, responded to Browne's
critcisms, arguing that the installed base of OS X would be around 5 million by the
end of 2002.
The price reduction represents a $200 cut in the regular retail cost of Office X. The
promotion will only run through January 7, 2003, however.
According to c|net, it appears that both Apple and Microsoft will pay the costs of
subsidizing the bundling deal. However, as the article notes, Windows users can get
Office XP for as little as $100, when purchasing new systems. However, the Dell and HP
examples show that the SMB edition of Office XP deletes Powerpoint in favor of
Publisher.
Conversely, Mac Office v.X gets the full complement of applications (with exception of
the Windows-only Access database), including Powerpoint, as well as the popular
Entourage mail, usenet and calendar application which also syncs with Palm handhelds.
Analysis: This may pour oil on some troubled Apple-Microsoft waters, but it will
probably sell more copies of Office v.X than it will Macs (which, let's face it, is
the idea). $199, while considerably better than $399, is still not inexpensive. Since
Apple recommenced bundling AppleWorks 6 with lite editions of MacLinkPlus, there's
probably been little cause for casual users to invest in Office v.X. Is there more
reason now?
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