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Microsoft tosses Office, Skype portball to 20 Android makers

Redmond fanbois wail as Cortana gets to go on foreign exchange, too

LG and Sony have joined 18 other device makers in the latest phase of Microsoft’s strategy to get Office and Skype as portable as possible.

The global and regional Android device makers will inject Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, OneDrive and Skype on forthcoming fondle pads. A new LG tablet and Sony Xperia Z4 will debut with Microsoft’s collab apps in the next 90 days.

The deal follows the same strategic deal forged by Microsoft with Samsung, Dell and eight regional OEMs. Microsoft reckoned that pre-installing the apps and services would make it easier for customers on Android machines to access them.

In a nod to the industry watching it, Microsoft reckoned the deals demonstrated how the firm is “leveraging the scale of the hardware ecosystem”.

The news came the same day Microsoft said Cortana – its digital assistant that will be built into Windows 10 – will be coming to Android and iOS devices, too.

That news is sure to rankle Windows 10 fanbois who’d wanted Cortana to themselves and saw it as one of Microsoft’s USPs against the competition on mobile. ®

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