Microsoft launched its consumer oriented Office 365 Home Premium service just under a year ago and now it appears that the subscription service has done very well in its first year. Today, as part of its financial report for its last fiscal quarter, which ended December 31st, Microsoft said it now has 3.5 million subscribers for Office 365 Home Premium.
The updated numbers show a rather big boost in new users compared to the one million subscriber milestone in May 2013 and the two million mark which was achieved in September 2013. Office 365 Home Premium costs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year and offers users access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook. OneNote, Access, and Publisher on up to five Windows or Mac PCs and up to five smartphones.
The shift from using retail software to a subscription business model for an Office product does have a drawback, Microsoft also said that revenues from its Office Consumer division were actually down 16 percent last quarter. The company said that was "due to the shift to Office 365 Home Premium" by its customers. Still, the 3.5 million account number in less than a year is an encouraging sign as Microsoft slowly but inevitably moves away from selling stand-alone software.
Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft
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