Microsoft Brings Office Web Apps to Android via Chrome

Microsoft has held onto its Office advantage pretty tightly since entering the mobile market, but as Windows Phone and Windows 8/RT have failed to capture significant share of the smartphone and tablet markets, respectively, the company has slowly been loosening its grip. The most recent move in Microsoft's spread of Office comes in the form of enabling Android devices to edit documents created on Office Web Apps via the Chrome Web browser.

Office Web Apps, like Google Docs, allow users to create and edit documents and spreadsheets through a Web browser rather than through the full Word or Excel desktop applications. As such, bringing Office Web Apps to Android is more of an aggressive move than a submissive one from Microsoft.

Indeed, since the majority of consumers use Office on their PCs, allowing Android users to opt for a mobile document creation service they'll likely find more familiar than Google Docs is smart. Meanwhile, bringing its service productivity suite to Android rounds out Microsoft's device support for Office Web Apps.

"The full power of the Office Web Apps is already available for Windows 8 tablets and iPads and we will be extending the same capabilities to Android tablets via mobile Chrome browser support," said Amanda Lefebvre, technical product marketing manager for Office Web Apps at Microsoft.

Of course, Google is no stranger to these kinds of tactics. The company has to work extra hard, in fact, to put its services on iOS devices due to the rivalry between itself and Apple. For example, the most recent Gmail update for iOS ties Google's services together on the platform, opting to use Chrome, Google Maps and YouTube to handle links interacted with from within Gmail, if those apps are installed.

For companies such as Google and Microsoft, any potential negative — for Microsoft, unsuccessful entry into mobile, and for Google, Apple's move away from its services —could be turned into a positive. After all, if Office can't be used as a selling point for Windows 8, expanding its reach to more popular platforms is a solid plan B.