[scarface74]

So you think you know better than Microsoft and Adobe? Have you thought that they may know their customer base better than you do?

[mrweasel]

Unless we can see the numbers we don’t know if Microsoft profits from Office for the iPad. So I could be right for all you know.

[scarface74]

Seeing that the only way that Microsoft makes money on Office for iPad is by selling O365 subscriptions -- same as Adobe with Creative Cloud -- having access anywhere is the value add.

[readhn]

Microsoft or Adobe can afford to make a billion dollar mistake.

[scarface74]

Why would Microsoft keep developing a product for 7 years if there were no interest?

[oarsinsync]

The Zune was launched in 2006 and discontinued in 2012. Why did that product last 6 years?

I’m not saying Office for iPad is pointless (I use it regularly, so quite the opposite!), but I do think it’s foolish to think an organisation the size of Microsoft’s doesn’t necessarily do things for obvious reasons. Individual incentives do not always lend themselves to data driven objectives.

[scarface74]

Apple created the iPod in nine months by cobbling together third party components. The Zune wasn’t exactly a billion dollar investment.

[oarsinsync]

I think it's unlikely that Office for iPad is a billion dollar investment either. It doesn't change that it might not actually generate any direct returns for them.

Loss-making strategies can ultimately be profitable in a broader sense (if it increases the stickiness of the product on it's primary platforms, keeping away competitors, a strategic moat).

I don't think there's any evidence either way to be able to make any assumptions about the level of interest of the product, and whether or not that justifies it's existence.