Microsoft Lays Out Pricing And Details For Office 365 Subscriptions
It's a cloud-driven world, haven't you noticed? Even Adobe's Photoshop has shifted over to a cloud-based subscription model, and Microsoft's certainly doing likewise. The company has just announced pricing and details surrounding Office 365 subscriptions for consumers and small businesses. The company claims that with this release, it's "modernizing Office, and an important part of that is the introduction of new subscriptions." It's hard to tell if these will truly be a better value for consumers, and of course, much will depend on your family size and usage requirements. Office 365 Home Premium, a single subscription for up to 5 users, will be available in both physical and online stores across 227 markets worldwide for $8.33 per month ($99.99 billed annually). A free 30 day trial will also be available online. Office 365 Small Business Premium will be available in both physical and online stores, including small business resellers, across 86 markets worldwide for $12.50 per user per month ($149.99 billed annually), and yes, a free 30 day trial will also be available online here as well. For specifics on how each model will work, see below.
Office 365 Small Business Premium
In addition to Office 365 Small Business, the new Office 365 Small Business Premium is designed for organizations with 1-10 employees, and each user gets the following benefits:
- All the Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, and Publisher plus Lync.*
- Ability to use Office on up to 5 PCs or Macs for a single user. Users also have flexibility to change their 5 devices at any time, and full featured Office applications are available for temporary use on any PC.
- A 25 GB Outlook mailbox, shared calendar, contact manager, scheduling and task-list tools, and 10 GB professional-grade cloud storage for the organization plus 500 MB per user.
- Ability to host online meetings with audio and video using one-click screen sharing and HD video conferencing (HD video camera required)
- Set up, build, and maintain a public-facing website with no additional hosting fees.
- Premium licenses that are always up-to-date with latest new features and services released regularly. With the new Office, new capabilities will be added multiple times per year.
- No IT expertise needed. Simple setup to get started quickly and customize the service with ease.
Office 365 Home Premium
A single subscription to Office 365 Home Premium covers the entire household. While you use a laptop, your daughter can use the PC in the den, and your son can use a tablet. You can each sign-in with your individual Microsoft accounts using your settings and accessing your documents, but you still need just one subscription to get:
- All the Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access, and Publisher.*
- Ability to use Office on up to 5 PCs or Macs shared among all users in the home. Subscribers also have flexibility to change their 5 devices at any time, and full featured Office applications are available for temporary use on any PC.
- Nearly 3 times the amount of SkyDrive storage with an additional 20GB over the 7GB you get for free.
- 60 minutes of SkypeTM world calling per month to keep in touch with family anywhere.**
- Premium licenses that are always up-to-date with latest new features and services released regularly. With the new Office, new capabilities will be added multiple times per year.
