One Year Later, Microsoft Office on Chromebooks Can’t Compete (Premium)

A year ago, Microsoft revealed that it would deliver its flagship Office apps for Android on Chromebook. So what's happening?

Honestly, not much. As of this weekend, you can finally install some of the Office mobile apps for Android on any Chromebook that supports Android apps and the Google Play Store.

But installing them is one thing. Using those apps is another.

News of Office apps for Android quietly arriving on Chromebook comes via Reddit and not, say, Microsoft, which has been silent on this topic since last November. So I booted up my Acer Chromebook to see what was up. And sure enough, some---but not all---of Microsoft's Office apps for Android were available for the first time: I installed Word, Excel, and Outlook. But PowerPoint and OneNote are not there. Why? No idea.

Anyway, in running Microsoft Word on the Chromebook, I was blocked by the need to sign-in, not just with a Microsoft account but with an account with an active Office 365 subscription. These apps will not work at all unless you have one.

Which ... makes sense, if you recall how Office works on Android. (It works identically on Chromebook.)

"Core editing is available [in Office apps] for free on Android devices with screen sizes of 10.1 inches or less," Microsoft notes. "Extra features are available on Android tablets and phones with a qualifying Office 365 subscription."

The Chromebook I'm using, however, has a 13.3-inch screen. So Office doesn't even offer "core editing," which is a delightfully vague term. It offers nothing at all unless you sign-in with your paid Office 365 account.

Which means that the (partial) arrival of Office for Android on Chromebook is a complete non-event for most people. And that this suite of apps offers no competition at all to the Google Android apps---Docs, Sheets, Slides, and so on---which are available already on Chromebook and work just fine without a paid subscription.

Which further begs the question: Is Microsoft really serious about competing on mobile? Because, if it is, it will need to expand at least that "core editing" bit to include all Android tablets and Chromebooks, regardless of display size. At the very least.