Samsung, Dell to pre-install Office on Android tablets

Microsoft has teamed up with 11 Android tablet makers, including Samsung and Dell, to pre-install its Office 365 suite on certain devices.

Microsoft has announced it has expanded its global partnership with Samsung to cover pre-installing Microsoft services and apps on its portfolio of Android devices.

Under the deal, Samsung will pre-install Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype on certain Android tablets starting in the first half of this year.

Samsung will also install OneNote and Skype on the upcoming Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones, along with 100 GB of free cloud storage through OneDrive.

Businesses that buy tablets through Samsung’s B2B sales channel will also have access to three versions of Office 365 and Samsung’s KNOX security solution.

Dell has also agreed to pre-install Office on its Android tablets, as have nine other regional OEMs from various countries.

The deals underscore how far Microsoft has moved away from its original strategy of solely relying on its Windows Phone OS for mobile growth. The company brought its Office suite to iOS in June 2013 and launched Office for Android tablets in February.

In a blog post announcing the deals, Peggy Johnson, Microsoft executive vice president for business development, said the move marks a big step forward for the company’s new cross-platform, cross-device strategy.

“Original device manufacturers are important because they extend Microsoft services to the ecosystem,” she said.

“More specifically, they help to reach a greater number of other device manufacturers, resulting in even more choice for customers around the world. And for Microsoft, this is part of the company’s mobile-first, cloud-first vision.”

Google has competing versions of many of the Microsoft apps that will be bundled with the tablets, often as the default Android app. Microsoft’s move could thus be an attempt to muscle in on Google’s home turf.

Image courtesy Microsoft