Microsoft readies Office 365 University bundle for Q1 2013

Just when you thought you had seen a full list of all the new Office 365 releases that Microsoft will be rolling out over the next few months, another new SKU emerges.

The Office 365 University offering, due in the first quarter of 2013, will be sold online, at retail locations and at Microsoft Stores in 52 markets worldwide, the Softies disclosed late last week.

The SKU includes the 2013 versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access.It also provides users with an additinal 20 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage (for a total of 27 GB) and 60 Skype world minutes per month.

Microsoft is positioning Office 365 University as the subscription-centric upgrade to Office 2010 University and Mac 2011 University. In February this year, Microsoft quietly replaced the Office Professional Academic 2010 SKU with a new one called "Microsoft Office University 2010." The new SKU is for "higher-education" students and faculty only. Microsoft Office Home and Student is Microsoft's recommended product for parents and families with K-12 students.

The pricing: $1.67 per user per month, or $79.99 for a four-year subscription. (Note: The pricing for Office 365 University listed in a slide deck with which Microsoft has been providing partners listed the price at $3.30 per user per month.

Looks like the $3.30 price in the partner deck was wrong. From a Microsoft spokesperson: "The pricing listed in the blog post officially announcing Office 365 University is the correct price." I think Microsoft also plans to continue to offer Office 365 for Education, going forward. If the company does continue with this SKU, the new Office 365 line-up will look like this, as the new versions begin to roll out in November:

• Office 365 Home Premium
• Office 365 University
• Office 365 for Education
• Office 365 ProPlus
• Office 365 Small Business
• Office 365 Small Business Premium
• Office 365 Midsize Business
• Office 365 Enterprise and Government

The difference between Office 365 for Education and Office 365 University is basically what I mentioned above, the spokesperson confirmed. "Office 365 for education is made available to students through their universities that are signed up for the Office 365 for education service. Office 365 University is sold at retail and available to any eligible university and college students, faculty and staff."