Microsoft Announces New Office Suite for Apple Users (MSFT, AAPL)

Microsoft Corp. MSFT said on Monday that it would release the updated version of its lucrative Office software package for Apple Inc. AAPL computers in late October, with a starting price of $119. The world's largest software company's "Office for Mac 2011" software suite will include the popular applications Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. Microsoft's business division, which averages around $2.8 billion profit per quarter, gets 90 percent of its overall sales from Office. The company said that customers who buy the version of Office for Mac currently in stores can upgrade to Office 2011 at no additional cost. Shares of Microsoft and Apple are both higher by more than 1.5% today.