Microsoft apps will come pre-loaded on Android tablets from Samsung, Dell, and nine other regional manufacturers, the company just announced.
Android is the most popular operating system at the moment, and things will get more interesting starting later this year. While Microsoft has its own devices to compete on the smartphone and tablet markets, Android has a far greater market share that's quite tough to beat. If it can't convince more customers to go for Windows rather than other platforms, Microsoft can at least push its services to as many customers as possible.
With this goal in mind, the company has now announced notable collaborations with Samsung, Dell, as well as nine other regional manufacturers, to have its apps pre-installed on the OEMs' Android devices.
Microsoft has not disclosed the exact terms of the deals, but revealed that Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, and Skype will come pre-loaded on Android tablets from Samsung, Dell, and others, starting later this year.
"Microsoft Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. have expanded their global partnership to bring Microsoft mobile productivity services to more consumers and business customers. Samsung is planning to pre-install Microsoft services and apps on its portfolio of Android devices and will deliver secured mobile productivity for businesses through a new Microsoft Office 365 and Samsung KNOX Business Pack," the company announced on Monday, March 23.
"Microsoft is committed to reinventing productivity in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. Expanding its cloud-based services to customers in new ways and across platforms and devices is a big part of executing this strategy."
Following the news of its new partnership with Samsung, Microsoft announced on the same day that it also expanded its strategic deals with Dell, as well as regional OEMs such as TrekStor of Germany, JP Sa Couto of Portugal, Datamatic of Italy, DEXP of Russia, Hipstreet of Canada, QMobile of Pakistan, Tecno of Africa, Casper of Turkey, and well-known original device manufacturer Pegatron.
This means a total of 11 hardware partners for Microsoft, which will all pre-install Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive, and Skype on their Android devices set to launch later this year.
"For OEMs, these deals will increase the value of and enrich people's experiences on Android devices. Original device manufacturers are important because they extend Microsoft services to the ecosystem. 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. It is addressing consumer demand for top services by making them already available on a device, instead of requiring consumers to download them separately," the company further explains in its second announcement.
While the aforementioned apps will come pre-installed on the OEMs' Android devices, however, they will not be forced on users. If they don't want the apps, users will reportedly be able to delete them from their Android device with no hassle.
