Microsoft today announced that 20 new companies will now be pre-loading its apps and services on Android devices sold by them.

The company had announced back in March that Samsung would start pre-loading a few of its apps — OneDrive and OneNote among others — on its smartphones and tablets.

Microsoft’s strategic agreements with companies like LG, Sony, Haier and others will now see these companies ship their Android tablets with Microsoft’s Office productivity suite — Word, Excel and PowerPoint — along with Skype.

These apps will also be available on a “new LG tablet” and Sony will be rolling out a software update within 90 days to add them to the Xperia Z4.

The new list of partners are as follows:

• Axdia International GMBH – Germany
• Cube – China
• DL – Brazil
• General Procurement – United States
• Grupo Nucleo – Argentina
• Haier – China
• Inco – Mexico
• Ionik GBMH – Germany
• Iview – United States and Latam
• LG – Global
• Multilaser – Brazil
• Noblex – Argentina
• Pacific (Vulcan) – Mexico
• Philco – Argentina
• Positivo – Brazil
• Prestigio – EMEA
• Sony – Global
• Teclast – China
• TMAX Digital – North America
• Wortmannn – Germany

Since users will not be able to remove these apps from their device, they can be considered bloatware. However, since Word, Excel and PowerPoint are almost a necessity nowadays, it is actually a good thing that Microsoft has teamed up with OEMs to pre-load the apps on their devices.

• SourceMicrosoft