Google takes Quickoffice free, eyes Microsoft Office defense

Google is used to using the right price---like free---as a weapon to gain market share and now is planning to use a well-worn playbook with Quickoffice to surround Microsoft's mobile Office ambitions.

In a blog post, Google said it will make its Quickoffice free anyone with a Google Account on Android and Apple's iOS platform. In April, Google made Quickoffice free for Google Apps for Business customers.

Google is trying to scale mobile document editing where it has market share, get folks using Quickoffice and Google Drive and keep Microsoft Office at bay.

In recent months, Microsoft has started to launch Office on Android and iOS and tied the apps to Office 365 accounts. However, Microsoft still wants the best Office experience to reside on the software giant's platform and devices. In many respects, Microsoft is positioning Office as way to protect Windows.

With the Quickoffice freebie, Google appears to be playing more offense because it doesn't have much to lose.