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Plano company's software lets you use your phone to grab documents
12:00 AM CDT on Monday, May 5, 2008
Even the smartest smart phones can't pull up that vital document you left on your computer at work.
But that's about to change.
A Plano-based company that makes mobile versions of Microsoft Office programs will soon let smart-phone users dial up every report, spreadsheet and presentation they own.
Basic versions of Quickoffice Inc.'s software have already shipped on more than 60 million smart phones from Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and others that use Palm and Symbian operating systems.
Now the privately held company plans to add the document-fetching feature, Quickaccess, and to begin supporting smart-phone operating systems from BlackBerry, Microsoft, Apple and Google.
To speed this expansion, Quickoffice just spent an undisclosed sum to acquire DynoPlex Inc., a company that makes mobile Office software for BlackBerry phones.
The company expects its products to work on all major smart phones by year's end.
"Any user, on any kind of smart phone, will be able to view, edit and save Office files just as they can on a computer. Every formatting detail will come through," Quickoffice chief executive Alan Masarek said.
Existing Quickoffice users can already do all that on their Symbian and Palm phones, but they have limited ways to access files.
Quickoffice and rival programs such as Documents to Go give users only two ways to transfer documents: attach them to e-mails or attach the smart phone to a computer.
Such options work when folks know what they'll need, but they make it impossible to grab a document on the fly without help from someone else, such as a co-worker.
Quickoffice hopes to eliminate this problem when it rolls out its Quickaccess service in the coming weeks.
By adding a program to their computers, Quickaccess users will be able to open and edit all their Office files on their phones. Once they're done, Quickaccess saves changes and syncs all copies of the file.
"We think Quickaccess goes a long way toward fulfilling the promise of smart phones – letting people anywhere do pretty much anything they can do at the office," Mr. Masarek said.
The first version of Quickoffice hit the market in 1997, but its limited feature set, along with the scarcity of handheld computers, made it a niche product.
Only recently, as smart-phone sales have soared and faster processors have enabled better software, has the mobile-Office market surged. Quickoffice employment has more than doubled in the past year.
Customers now expect smart phones to let them view Office documents, which is why Nokia and other companies include basic software from Quickoffice on many models.
Power users want even more, which is why Quickoffice can sell its top-of-the-line software for $70.
Quickaccess represents a new revenue model for the company. Rather than selling it for a one-time fee, the company will charge ongoing fees for the space required to store documents on remote servers.
Mr. Masarek expects the introduction of Quickaccess to make mobile-Office software a truly mainstream product, but he still sees plenty of room to improve Quickoffice and attract more customers.
"We've made it easier for users to view and edit files, but it's nowhere near as easy as working on a full-size computer," he said. "We've still got work to do."
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