Microsoft Word for Android has been installed over a billion times

Microsoft’s Word application for Android has been installed more than a billion times. A year ago, the counter stood at half a billion installations. Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and OneDrive are now also on half a billion phones.

The numbers are visible in the Google Play Store. Microsoft Word has been put on more than a billion devices, according to the download store. That’s not to say the app has been downloaded that many times; Microsoft also has deals with manufacturers who pre-install the app on their devices. It is not known how large the share of such installations is.

Word is Microsoft’s most popular Android app. This is followed by Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and OneDrive, which apps are installed on half a billion devices. The Outlook app for Android is less popular with 100 million installs.

How well the apps do on iOS is unknown. Apple’s download store does not provide installation numbers. Microsoft has been investing heavily in apps for Android and iOS in recent years, because the company itself has missed the boat when it comes to mobile operating systems. Bill Gates said in an interview last month that losing to Android was the biggest mistake he made at Microsoft.