Microsoft facing mobile Office competition from South Koreas Infraware

South Korean upstart Infraware Inc is in a David and Goliath battle with software giant Microsoft over a lucrative niche of the mobile office business - and just like the diminutive biblical hero, it believes it can win.

Infraware already dominates the market for office software applications on Android devices and says it now has a killer strategy to extend that domination to Apple Inc handsets as well - by giving its best-selling Polaris app away for free.

The contest between the $250 million Korean minnow and the $270 billion U.S. titan illustrates how small firms can outwit lumbering technology majors like Microsoft Corp, which has been criticised for being too slow to transfer its great advantage in office software onto mobile platforms.

"What we're trying to do is add cloud-based services and make the Polaris app seamlessly accessible through multiple devices. Then offer it for free," Infraware chief executive Kwak Min-cheol told Reuters in an interview in Seoul.

"If you look at Microsoft, they earn over 15 trillion won with Office products and they charge monthly usage fees ... Our app has great compatibility with Office and it will come for free for many devices. I'm pretty confident this will have a major destructive impact on the market."

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