Microsoft and Xiaomi Expand Partnership; Skype and Office to be Pre-loaded on Xiaomi Devices.

Xiaomi and Microsoft has been working together from sometime, but todays announcement brings in huge deal for both the giants. The companies have reached an agreement which brings Microsoft’s popular apps like Skype & Office to Android devices Xiaomi will in future starting this September 2016.  Microsoft and Xiaomi did work together to get Windows 10 Mobile on the handsets in China, but we haven’t heard much about it recently.

Coming back to the topic, the deal was shared by Xiaomi’s Hugo Barra and Microsoft where Xiang Wang, senior vice president at Xiaomi said:

We are excited to be working closely with Microsoft on a broad technology collaboration partnership. As demonstrated by this agreement with Microsoft, Xiaomi is looking to build sustainable, long-term partnerships with global technology leaders, with the ultimate goal of bringing the best user experience to our Mi fans.

“People want their favorite apps and experiences to work seamlessly on the device of their choice, and that’s exactly what this partnership offers,” said Peggy Johnson, executive vice president of Business Development at Microsoft. “Together with Xiaomi, we’re bringing the very best in mobile productivity to millions more customers in China and around the world.”

Since one year Microsoft has worked hard to get their apps on cross platform, and not just Windows to increase their user base, and with Androids popularity, this was too big opportunity to be missed. Both the companies have worked patents for cross-licensing deals.  Xiaomi has a huge presence in China, and South Aisa, and it makes a lot of sense for them.