Microsoft Office On iPhone Available Immediately: A $100 Yearly Subscription Required

Microsoft Office on iPhone is now available, not as an app, but rather a part of a yearly subscription. It began on Friday.

The Microsoft Office on iPhone plan is $100 a year. It is called the Office 365 subscription. This allows Microsoft Office on iPhones and up to five other Mac and Windows computers.  This does not include iPads or Android devices, as according to the Associated Press (AP), boost sales of tablet computers running its own Windows system.

Microsoft Office on iPhone is available in the app store right now. Excel, word and power point can be used as a part of the Office 365 subscription.

Traditionally, Office and the other programs from Microsoft have been sold in a one-time purchase, but the yearly subscription forces customers to keep paying for the product.

Office is available on tablets through a Web browser, but that requires a constant Internet connection, something many tablets don't have, according to the AP.

"The nature of the Office suite, being productivity-focused, makes it better-suited for a larger mobile screen," Josh Olson, an analyst with Edward Jones told the Associated Press. "The issue then becomes, 'How do you provide the Office offering in its best-suited mobile environment without negating a distinguishing characteristic of the Windows 8 tablets?'"