There was a moment there when new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had to decide if the company would push its Office 365 product out to as many platforms as possible, thus ensuring maximum adoption for its software, or withhold one of its most valuable assets and leverage that to boost its hardware sales.

Nadella chose the former option, and thus we have Office for iPad. (Our review is here.) Reports indicate that sales are going swimmingly, resulting in 12 million downloads, but in a bid to pump up sales even further, Microsoft rolled out a whole new Office 365 tier called “Office 365 Personal”.


“An Office 365 Personal subscription allows for one PC or Mac, and one tablet (including iPad) to be connected to the service, and is the best option for individuals interested in using Office 365,” reads a Microsoft announcement.

Indeed, the new tier will certainly be an attractive one for many users. It costs $69.99 per year or $6.99 per month, and like Office 365 Home, it includes 27GB total of free OneDrive storage; the ability to save documents to a PC; 60 minutes of Skype calls per month; and access to desktop, mobile, and cloud versions of Office software.

Office 365 Home gives you access for up to 5 computers and 5 tablets, and thus its $99 per year or $9.99 per month price tag is a technically a better deal than the new Personal option, but for those who just need access on a couple of their own machines, the new deal is a good one.