Microsoft releases Office 365 Home Premium

On January 29th Microsoft Corporation announced worldwide availability of Office 365 Home Premium, a reinvention of the company’s flagship Office product line for consumers.

Office 365 Home Premium is a cloud service designed for busy households and people juggling ever-increasing work and family responsibilities, Microsoft said in a release on its website.

The new offering includes the latest and most complete set of Office applications; works across up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs and Macs; and comes with extra SkyDrive storage and Skype calling — all for US$99.99 for an annual subscription, the equivalent of US$8.34 per month.

- Today’s launch of Office 365 Home Premium marks the next big step in Microsoft’s transformation to a devices and services business - said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft.

- This is so much more than just another release of Office. This is Office reinvented as a consumer cloud service with all the full-featured Office applications people know and love, together with impressive new cloud and social benefits - he added.

Microsoft also announced it will now deliver many new features and services to the cloud first, transforming the company’s traditional three-year release cycle.

Now, new features and services stream to subscribers as soon as they are ready, keeping subscribers always up to date while eliminating the hassles of upgrading.

Simultaneously, Microsoft also released Office 365 University for college or university students, faculty and staff at a price of just US$79.99 for a four-year subscription — the equivalent of US$1.67 per month.