Microsoft is making a big mistake. Assuming the leaked Office ‘Gemini’ roadmap is both legitimate and accurate, it appears that neither Outlook RT nor Office for iOS and Android will arrive any time soon. By the time they do, it’s possible nobody will care.
Mary Jo Foley—a respected and reliable source of inside information from Redmond—shed some light today on what we can expect from the Microsoft Office team. According to a leaked roadmap, Office RT apps will be available this fall alongside the expected launch of Windows “Blue”, followed by a refresh of the Office RT apps, and a new version of Office for Mac in early 2014.
The last bit of the leaked roadmap is the perplexing part, though. The highly-anticipated Office for iOS and Android apps and Outlook RT apparently won’t arrive until late 2014—yes, a year and a half from now.
If the information is accurate, Microsoft is missing a huge opportunity. By the end of 2014, Windows RT may not even exist if it doesn’t start gaining some traction. The Mail client on Windows RT is OK, but it’s not Outlook. The CEO of Nvidia, for one, recently blamed anemic sales of Windows RT tablets at least partially on the lack of an Outlook RT app.
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Categories: General.