While Microsoft may lead in providing office software with Microsoft Office, that doesn't mean Microsoft's dominance is secure. With major competitors like Google constantly striving to attract more customers, Microsoft Office's position could be shaken at any moment.
G Suite gaining ground, challenging Microsoft Office's dominance
Tech experts see this as a rare victory for Google in the battle against Microsoft. This victory is noteworthy considering Google's G Suite still faces many competitors, and most customers continue to use Microsoft Office despite G Suite's improved features.
Will Microsoft Office's revenue decrease?
With the loss of such a significant number of customers, Microsoft's revenue might not necessarily decline sharply.
According to Microsoft's FY2017 Q4 financial report, revenue from the Productivity and Business Processes division increased by 21% to reach $8.4 billion. Commercial Office products and cloud service revenue increased by at least 5%, and Office 365 revenue also saw a 43% increase.
Furthermore, in the past quarter, Microsoft has also sought and signed more contracts, with customers using Office.
'We continue to witness strong growth in Office 365 with customers like Nissan, Quicken Loans, Key Bank, and Deutsche Telekom choosing Office 365. And importantly, customers are moving beyond core workloads to apply higher-value workloads. For example, we've seen a significant increase in SharePoint usage, nearly doubling from the previous year,' said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Google is also not backing down from the fight. G Suite now has around 3.5 million paying customers, up from about 3 million in January, Google said G Suite revenue amounted to about $1.6 billion in 2016. So, with G Suite's growth momentum, the move to outshine Microsoft Office, G Suite gradually taking the top spot could happen at any time.
