Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Raises Office of Mac Prices

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is very visible nowadays, as it is ramping up its attacks on Gmail and Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) as part of promoting its Outlook.com e-mail service – which is cannibalizing Hotmail. Microsoft is working hard to develop market share in e-mail, but now it is also recognizing the popularity of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) devices, which may be the explanation behind some quiet pricing changes in recent days.

Just around the time that Office 2013 and 365 were launched, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reportedly increased its prices on Office for Macintosh products. The increase is listed as being 10-17 percent over the previous price, and Redmond made the change without any fanfare; it was supposedly made in late January, about three weeks ago.

There is no official word as to why the change was made, but it does seem to coincide with the arrival of Office 365, which is the Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) answer to enterprise in the cloud. The new Office for Mac 2011 price is now competitive with the Office 2013 for Windows package.  Reports are that Microsoft is now offering its Office for Mac Home & Student version for $140 and the Home & Business version for $220, both increasing the prices by $20 each. Also, Microsoft is reportedly moving away from its multiple-license packages, which allowed customers to buy multiple licenses of software at discounted prices per-license. There are some multi-license packages still available on Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), but that apparently will be the last of the supply moving forward.

The goal for these changes apparently is to draw customers to Office 365, which is available for a subscription of $100 per year and is Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s way to do collaborative computing in the cloud.

What are your thoughts about these changes by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)? Will Microsoft make headway with its Office suite after making these changes, or will this actually adversely affect sales of Office in general? We’d like your thoughts on this in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.

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