Two years ago Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, made it clear in a very important announcement that the company would focus primarily on mobile. This meant that he would put the target on all types of mobile platforms as is the Android.
We have seen in these two years a good number of high-quality Microsoft apps launched on Android, although according to various reports, this arrival would have been too late. Something we are used to with Microsoft that seems like gallop at a different pace.
It was reported last year that Google's preloaded productivity apps were being more used than the recently released Office apps on mobile devices.
We now have new evidence showing that the trend has continued through 2016, except for a single app, Excel for Android. According to statistics from millions of Android users in the United States, Microsoft's Office apps have had peaks and falls in use and downloads, but lately their use has stagnated or even reduced compared to other productivity apps that the Android ecosystem has :
- Excel was the most used and installed app. By the end of the year, Excel had a higher number of monthly active users than Google Sheets. It is the only one that is passing to the competition offered by Google on Android
- Microsoft OneNote saw install growth in 2016, although stalled at the end of the year.
- Other Microsoft apps have followed the same stagnation or have even fallen into use and facilities
Even of the top 15 smartphone apps, Microsoft Office apps do not appear in the list released by Comscore. Facebook, Facebook Messenger, YouTube, Google Search and Google Maps are the ones that take the top five positions.
Here if that saying is not valid, better late never.