Thanks to a new Microsoft licensing loophole, owners of smaller iPad Pro can get Office 365 for free. The catch? Nothing really. It’s just a cool loophole.
MICROSOFT GIVES AWAY OFFICE 365 TO APPLE USERS
Apple or Microsoft hasn’t exactly made it clear that a purchase of an iPad Pro will get you free Office 365. What we do know is that it is not a promotion for Microsoft. If that was so, they wouldn’t be limiting this feature for the 9.7 inches iPad Pro. The secret relies on some fine print. A year ago, Microsoft wanted to redefine what a mobile experience meant. To do this they had to have a clear cut list of what devices fit in “mobile” category. Around that same time, the company wanted to charge desktop users for using Office 365 and use their mobile app for something like light editing. To define what exactly was considered mobile or not, it was decided screen size was the issue.
SMALL IPAD PRO IS MOBILE BIGGER ONE ISN’T?
Apparently, anything with a screen size of 10.1 inches, is considered mobile. With a mobile device, Office will let you create, edit and share documents using their mobile apps, however, get something a bit larger and suddenly you can’t create a new document using this same app. This essentially makes the smaller iPad Pro a more productive device than the slightly larger model. The good news for lovers of Office 365 is that this loophole will likely stick around. Microsoft needs this plan to allow Lumia phones to run Office apps. If the loophole goes away, so does that feature.
HOW THIS IS GOOD FOR APPLE
Many Windows users will say just how much better their Surface tablets are compared to the iPad Pro. However, this new loophole brings one major advantage to Apple. Office compatibility. The Surface 3, while a tablet, is 10.7 inches in screen size. This puts it out of range for free access to Office 365. Surface users pay $70 a year for this access while Apple users get it for free. With only a slight difference in price between Surface and iPad, this might just be enough to inspire a change for many tablet enthusiasts.
