Purchase Softmaker Office for iOS

[azguy]

Will Softmaker Office for iOS only be available as a subscription?

I am Softmaker 2021 Pro licensee for Windows and Mac and I was looking forward to having Softmaker Office on my ipad. Will the software be offered for sale or will it only be available for a subscription?

A subscription only option will hurt Softmaker Office. I have several clients who were planning to purchase Softmaker Office for ipad. Why? The were not willing to subscribe to Microsoft Office 365. They are willing to purchase software, however, they are not willing to subscribe to software. I am in agreement with this sentiment. I have eliminated all subscription software from my machines with the exception of my antivirus app. In my experience purchased software is of higher quality.

[SuperTech]

SoftMaker Office for iOS is available free of charges, using which you will be able to do most of the activities. SoftMaker Office for iOS provides everything you need to edit your documents on the go – completely free of charge.

But some additional features (such as printing, PDF export and change tracking) are available via a very low-cost in-app subscription. Users of SoftMaker Office NX receive these additional features free of charge.

For complete details, please refer to our product page here.

[azguy]

I would be willing to pay $15 per app if I could buy a license to the apps I need. I am not willing to pay $15 per year.

[JSR]

I kind of agree with the OP.

I was excited about the iOS app, having been with Softmaker for over 20 years now (I still have Softmaker 2002 on my HP Jornada 720 handheld PC - and it's working fine!).

I downloaded the app, but then saw that I couldn't print from it without paying on ongoing fee. I could probably justify a minimal one-off fee to unlock printing, but no way can I do an ongoing subscription fee just to print.

So I deleted the app and will continue using Pages & Word instead.

Sad, given all the work the people at Softmaker have clearly put into this app, but that's the way it goes.

[martin-k]

I could probably justify a minimal one-off fee

That is part of the problem. You paid more than 70 Euro for the Handheld PC version, but now you can just afford a "minimal one-off fee" for the iOS version. For that, we not only have to give you the current version, but all new versions would have to be free too since the app stores don't allow paid upgrades.

[JSR]

I could probably justify a minimal one-off fee

That is part of the problem. You paid more than 70 Euro for the Handheld PC version, but now you can just afford a "minimal one-off fee" for the iOS version. For that, we not only have to give you the current version, but all new versions would have to be free too since the app stores don't allow paid upgrades.

Which rather shows why the system doesn't work in all situations. I can't recall what I paid for the H/PC version all those years ago, but I know I just paid £17 for the Softmaker Office 2021 version. On the H/PC there was no viable alternative. What Softmaker could do made "Pocket Word / Excel" look like a child's toy in comparison. Softmaker towered over the alternatives. I can't stress enough what a Colossus of functionality Softmaker brought to the Jornada.

But, today, I find myself moving further and further away from Softmaker. One of the reasons I've found myself drifting back to Office is because Office 365 provided the same cloud storage I was paying for from Dropbox only at a lower price - yet I also get Microsoft Office all bundled in with it across all my devices. Dropping Dropbox and picking up Office was a simple no-brainer. And, once Office is back on my devices, I find I'm not inclined to use Softmaker so much.

I'm not here to complain about Softmaker Office, merely to observe that it must be terribly difficult for you to compete when the alternatives offer more and you have to restrict basic functionality (printing) from your apps.

we not only have to give you ...

You don't "have" to give us anything at all. But you've created an iOS app, and I'm providing feedback to explain why I'm disinclined to use it. That's all. If this isn't useful to you, I'll just withdraw.

[azguy]

I have purchased upgrades on the App Store. Recently, I purchased an upgrade to my Sparkle web app. I don't always purchase every upgrade but I often do. I have purchased the last two versions of Softmaker Office for example. Excellent software for the most part.

I am in the computer support business. There are two groups rapidly developing in the American business market. MS 365 subscribers and those who don't like subscription software. MS Office on iOS is only subscription based so that leaves an opening for a fully MS compatible non subscription Office on iOS. That market segment is open at the moment. Competing with MS Office in the subscription format will be a rough road because MS continues to add goodies (cloud storage, security software) to their offering.

Why not be the non subscription MS Office alternative on iOS?

P.S. Planmaker on the Mac is very good but not quite great. Improve these two areas and then it will be great:

(The text in PlanMaker occasionally gets kind of stretched out or crunched when resizing. It can also become slow scrolling in large worksheets).

[HeWhoMustObey]

I'm in agreement with customers avoiding subscription software. That's what attracted me to SoftMaker Office Professional 2021. So it was disappointing to see that something as basic as printing from Office for IOS requires a subscription. A one-time purchase, maybe, but not a subscription. Too bad, I guess I won't be installing it on our iPad.

[userNamed]

One more here willing to support Softmaker iOS apps through one-time purchases.

Maybe you could have the best of both worlds by following selling models like the used by well-known design app Concepts. They give the option to make one-time purchases of some features (exporting to pdf...) or resources (brushes, symbols,...), or you can have it all at once, even as new features/content are added along the way, by subscribing to the app.

Softmaker could take the same approach. I believe that would get customers from the aforementioned both worlds

[Pelagicdrifter]

I also believe that the subscription-only option will hurt SoftMaker as said above.

I only use iOS and iPadOS.
I would be willing to buy each of the TextMaker, PlanMaker and Presentations for $15-20 AUD because I believe they’re unparalleled in features and I want to support SoftMaker. I tell everyone I know about how good SoftMaker apps are.

Personally however I don’t like and wont use subscription models. This has nothing to do with SoftMaker per se, it’s just from a desire to keep control of my own spending. Also, as a subscription service SoftMaker are competing against office 365 which includes a lot more apps plus I’m given a licence by work. Is iPadOS Word, Excel and PowerPoint as good as SoftMaker Text, Plan and Presentations? No way, not even close, but it’s hard to justify the cost of a subscription just for printing etc. I (and I guess many others) will use the free versions of SoftMaker and then print with Microsoft Office… or even one of the other office programs like WPS office.

As already suggested it shouldn’t be too hard to offer both freemium versions of Text/Plan/Presentations with the subscription button and also full featured ones with a one time purchase. Make them separate apps. If you like you can call them V2022 or Version 1 and stop supporting said version after three years or after a certain iPadOS System upgrade.

As someone who came across SoftMaker Office years ago during Windows mobile 5 and followed with interest the forum discussions when iOS came on the scene its seemed to me that SoftMaker as a company never quite understood iOS and the opportunity it presented from at least a decade ago. In fact they actually described Google’s Android as somehow representing freedom for a private company whereas Apple didn’t…. Finally the apps are available on iOS but only under a subscription model…. Now, I suspect a majority of people who want to support independent developers like SoftMaker also want to own the apps. It’s part of the psyche. Many long term iOS users have decried the rise of the “freemium” model because it has not brought better apps in general and is designed to lock users into a constant payment method even if you rarely use the app. A lot of us have already decided we will never support that model. SoftMaker still stand to make real money out of iOS but they need to provide full featured programs at a reasonable cost.

[azguy]

"People who want to support independent developers like SoftMaker also want to own the apps. - Exactly!

Softmaker will never be able to compete head to head with the Microsoft subscription. Microsoft can just keep adding little goodies on that Softmaker cannot. Softmaker to compete must do something that Microsoft is unwilling to do. On iOS that is sell an office suite without a subscription.

[Arun1]

I'm in agreement with customers avoiding subscription software. That's what attracted me to SoftMaker Office Professional 2021. So it was disappointing to see that something as basic as printing from Office for IOS requires a subscription. A one-time purchase, maybe, but not a subscription. Too bad, I guess I won't be installing it on our iPad.

It's disappointing when basic features like printing from SoftMaker Office for iOS necessitate a subscription. A one-time purchase seems more reasonable than a subscription model. Understandably, it's a letdown for iPad users.Gb Whatsapp Download