Office 2010 Retail Lineup and Prices

The pricing strategy for consumer editions of Office 2010 combines some price reductions, discounts for customers who use a new software delivery technology, tighter limits on the number of installations permitted on a single license, and an end to discounted upgrades for customers who have already own a previous version of Office. As a result, customers will need to take a number of factors into account before they upgrade. Business customers still need to wait: the company has not announced volume prices.

Making Up for a Rough 2009

The economic downturn had a dramatic effect on sales of Office 2007 on consumers and small businesses, with consumer revenue from Office down 30% and revenue from license-only sales to businesses (mostly small businesses) dropping 35% in Microsoft’s 2009 fiscal year, which ended June 30.

Revenue from larger customers on multiyear license agreements rose by 5%, but because so many of those customers are on multiyear contracts, of which only about one-third expire in a given year, Office sales could continue to be soft as the economy (particularly in the United States) struggles out of recession. Unemployment remains high in the United States, and Office sales are highly dependent on the number of people employed, since many volume contracts are based on the number of employees or the number of desktop computers in use.