Microsoft Reportedly to Unveil Office for iPad on March 27

[RaduTyrsina]

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iPad users have been waiting for a standalone Office app for quite a long time, but now that Microsoft has a new CEO, it seems that we’re getting closer to that moment. The new boss at Remond, Satya Nadella will host his first press event as Microsoft CEO next week. The event will be focused on cloud and mobile topics and will take place in San Francisco on March 27th. According to sources who have spoken with The Verge publication, the event will mark the introduction of Office for iPad. Tom Warren reports:

Microsoft has been working on the software for a number of months now, having first introduced an iOS version of Office for the iPhone in June last year. We understand the iPad variant of Office will be similar to the iPhone version, and will require an Office 365 subscription for editing. We’re told that document creation and editing is fully supported for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps. Overall, the interface and features are expected to be similar to the existing iPhone version.

So, as The Verge informs us, this won’t be an independent app but rather one which will be part of the Office 365 subscription, which currently comes with the cheapest price at 5$ per month. Microsoft has launched a Mac version of its OneNote Office app along with the introduction of Office Online recently. This shows that Microsoft is indeed targeting the cloud and mobile environments with these new products.

It has been estimated that Microsoft gives up some $2.5 billion a year in revenue by keeping Office off the iPad, as there is currently an estimated number almost 200 million units worldwide. With the new CEO, Microsoft is expected to adopt a more liberal attitude toward putting its software on different platforms.

Source: The Verge

 

[s2mikey]

About 3-4 years too late. Still, good to see it coming out I suppose. If it makes the other office apps and tools have to get better then we win, right?

 

[Ser Aphim]

I don't see how that will work out. iWork is already free for newly bought iOS devices. I don't see how it would compete.

 

[Dmitry]

I don't see how that will work out. iWork is already free for newly bought iOS devices. I don't see how it would compete.

Improving business activity via full integration with Microsoft online services. It doesn't look like competition but rather like a gift Strange, but Microsoft does care about iPad users... Don't you think?