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Microsoft Office for iPad adds monthly subscription option
Microsoft's productivity software finally made the long walk to iPad earlier this year, but if the relatively steep price tag of the Microsoft Office apps has prevented you from giving them a try, Microsoft thinks you might just want to pay monthly instead. The company has now added a monthly payment options of US$6.99 (for the Personal license) and $9.99 (for the Home license) as in-app purchases. The Personal subscription allows you to install the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote apps on your iPad as well as one Mac or PC, while the slightly pricier Home version covers five tablets and five Mac or PC computers. You can currently commit to the monthly plan from within the Excel, Word, and PowerPoint apps. The subscriptions are set to automatically renew every month, so if you're coughing up the small fee just to take them for a spin, be sure to disable your recurring payment before you get charged for a further month. [via ZDNet]
Breakfast Topic: Would you play WoW differently if there were no monthly subscription fee?
Maybe you're one of those players who drop in and out of World of Warcraft as their waxing and waning interest dictates. Perhaps you play through whatever content interests you, then bail out until something fresh comes along. That's an outlook I can't pull off. I never could synchronize my subscription payments with my interest, and paying for the game one month at a time for as many years as I've played WoW seems practically criminal. But what if WoW didn't have a subscription rate at all? What if it were free to play, either from the outset or for players who'd subscribed a certain amount of time? My guess is that a lot more players would feel free to drop out for real life, for waning interest, for all sorts of reasons. What if there were a lifetime membership plan? Would you still feel obligated to regularly log in and bang out your money's worth, or would you feel more likely to take a break when you felt like it? I'm interested in how this whole bang-for-your-buck dynamic plays out at your house. I sense a fair amount of angst amongst gamers over the cost of a gaming computer and the cost of their WoW subscriptions, but I don't hear anything even remotely resembling that among TV owners who pay for cable or subscription services such as Netflix or Hulu Plus. How would you compare the value you feel you get from WoW against the value you get from your other entertainment expenditures? How would that balance change if you no longer had to pay to play WoW?
StarCraft 2 free for WoW players in Korea, loses 18+ rating
Blizzard is tweaking the business model for its upcoming StarCraft 2 release in Korea. IGN reports that the RTS will be free for Korean subscribers to World of Warcraft there, as Blizzard reportedly wants to bolster the MMO's player base overseas. Other players will be able to buy the game outright for the US equivalent of about $54, or pick up $8 monthly or even $1.60 daily passes for the game, so Blizzard will still make a googoojillion dollars on the long-awaited sequel in Korea. No word on if these plans will make their way to North America, but we'd bet against it. WoW itself has had different pay models overseas for a while, but just the usual monthly price here in the US. That money can also come from children as young as age 12 -- after the game was originally rated for adults only, an edited version of the game has brought the rating back down to a 12+ age rating. The edit changes Zerg and Terran blood to black from red, and removes all profanity and smoking from the game. Blizzard is reportedly still thinking about releasing the "mature" version in Korea separately, although it'll be after next month's worldwide release.%Gallery-3311%
Apple to sell 99 cent TV shows at iPad launch?
Today's "people familiar with the discussions" prattle carried by both the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times has Apple reducing the price of some of its US television shows to 99 cents in time for the iPad launch. A quick search through the iTunes store makes it apparent that Apple has already been experimenting with the 99 cent rate (and a few freebies) on select iTunes episodes; shows that previously ran $1.99 for standard definition quality or $2.99 in HD. Of course, this could all change by the time the iPad launches since the talks are ongoing. Unfortunately, discussions between Apple and content providers to provide a monthly TV subscriptions have stalled according to sources at the Wall Street Journal, although Apple remains open to the idea. It's worth remembering that prior to adding video support to its iPods, Steve Jobs regularly lambasted the idea of watching video on a tiny, handheld display. The iPad, with its big 9.7-inch 1,024 x 768 pixel IPS panel, is certainly better positioned for video consumption so it's no surprise to hear rumors that Apple's trying to jump start its video business by getting back to the magical 99 cent price point it so loves.
