Office 365 Subscription Needed for Office Mobile on Continuum from April 2016

When Microsoft Announced Lumia 950 Xl and Lumia 950, it debuted Continuum, a future which turned your Windows 10 Mobile into a PC for desktop like experience. Keeping in mind that most of the Windows users end up using Office products like Word, Excel and Power Point, this was a key product that gets maximum usage.

Microsoft Display Dock Phone Usage

Office Blog has just announced that anybody who wants to use Office on Continuum, will need a Office 365 subscription, starting April 2016. This was posted by no other than Kirk Koenigsbauer the Corporate Vice President for Office. He said:

Editing in Word, Excel and PowerPoint with Continuum for phones will require an Office 365 subscription, but is available to try without Office 365 through March 31, 2016.

My only questions, WHY? and How many times Microsoft wants to take a you turn on stuff they are featuring to promote Windows 10 Mobile. First they made a mess on OneDrive 15Gb storage, and camera upload, and now this.

This is a real bad move from Microsoft. Though we know that Continuum is only supported by high end phones right now, but anybody who buys a Lumia 950 Xl and Lumia 950 now also needs to buy Office 365 subscription. Worst part is Windows 10 Mobile Office is not a full fledge desktop like app, but only comes with basic editing feature. So why do one needs to pay?

What I am guessing is that idea comes from where Office is getting used. Anybody using Continuum will of course use this on devices bigger than 8 inches like TV. Microsoft has previously said that Office is free on small devices, but when using it on bigger device you need to pay. But then how do you sell Continuum to general masses? Specially when this feature is planned to be rolled out to mid budget and budget segment devices in future.

via WMPU | Source : Office Blog