Microsoft 365 Subscription Bundle for Consumers May Be Coming Soon

Microsoft is said to be planning to release a bundled version of Microsoft Office 365 and Windows 10 for the normal consumers. The company's CEO Satya Nadella on Monday reportedly hinted at the launch of the Microsoft 365 bundle during a meeting with select journalists. He was answering a question around Microsoft's consumer focus. Microsoft already offers a similar bundle for the businesses and schools since 2017. Nadella didn't share a timeframe for the release of the consumer bundle.

According to a report in The Verge, Satya Nadella notes that Microsoft made some mistakes by “just saying let's just enter every category, just because we're a software company.” The Redmond-based company is now making a course-correction and choosing its battles wisely. The release of a Microsoft 365 bundle for the consumers will be part of the new strategy.

“I think about Microsoft 365 as a two-sided market. What we are doing with Office 365 or what we will soon be talking about as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, those would be again completely consumer businesses,” Nadella told journalists at the event.

According to a December 2018 report from ZDNet, the consumer bundle will be called Microsoft 365 Consumer, similar to the school and business bundles. The publication had spotted a job listing related to the consumer bundle last month, which was first indication is the company was working to launch the consumer-centric version of its Microsoft 365 bundle.

The business and school bundles also pack a number of other features and products apart from the Windows OS and Office 365, but it is unclear if the consumer bundle will come with similar extra products, like probably OneDrive storage space. The pricing details are also a mystery at this point, however, we do know that like the other bundles, it will also be a subscription product with a monthly and yearly pricing.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is also planning to tweak its Cortana strategy and will no longer be competing with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. Instead, the company will work to provide Cortana voice assistant as a skill or app on the competing platforms.