Microsoft’s word processing software — MS Word — has crossed 1 billion installs on the Play Store. That’s a huge number. In fact, Word was Microsoft’s first Android app to cross 500 million installs almost a year back, and now, it has set another record for the company.
It’s important to note, however, that the Play Store install count for Microsoft Word doesn’t exactly show the true picture, since it also counts pre-installed versions of Microsoft Word as “installs” in the Play Store. Microsoft has deals with major smartphone manufacturers like Samsung to pre-install its apps like Word, and Office on their smartphones, and there’s no doubt that a huge chunk of the 1 billion count we see here is due to pre-installed copies of Microsoft Word on Samsung smartphones. I mean, my Galaxy S10 came with MS Word, Office, and LinkedIn pre-installed on it. The only time I can imagine myself using Microsoft Word on my phone is if I use DeX to convert my phone into a workstation of sorts — in that case Microsoft Word being installed and ready to go on my phone will give me a powerful text editor. The fact still remains, though, that these 1 billion installs aren’t all legitimate installations.
Even so, 1 billion installs is a huge milestone for any app, and Microsoft Word is now the first of Microsoft’s Android apps to reach 1 billion installs as well, so I guess that’s another feather in its cap.
