Microsoft Office Coming to iPhone, iPad in 2013

· by · Rumor

New information backing up rumors that iOS-compatible versions of Microsoft's Office suite are coming in early 2013 surfaced when The Verge claimed to see previews of mobile versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Unfortunately, it appears the apps will offer very few features beyond limited editing, and will also require an Office 365 subscription.

Office for iOS apparently coming in February 2013Office for iOS apparently coming in February 2013

Unnamed sourced told The Verge that Microsoft plans to offer free apps for viewing Office documents, and that editing will be available only to Office 365 subscribers. Those editing features won't, however, offer nearly as many features as the desktop versions of the Office suite.

The sources also said Microsoft is targeting iOS first, and will follow up with Android versions of its apps a few weeks later.

Microsoft still hasn't officially confirmed Office for iOS features or when the apps will be released, but representatives have verified that the apps really are in development.

Jeff Gamet

Jeff Gamet

Jeff is the Mac Observer's Managing Editor, and co-host of the Apple Context Machine podcast. He is the author of "The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X" from Peachpit Press, and writes for several design-related publications. Jeff has presented at events such as Macworld Expo, the RSA Conference, and the Mac Computer Expo. In all his spare time, he also co-hosts the We Have Communicators podcast, and makes guest appearances on several other podcasts, too. Jeff dreams in HD.

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2 Comments

iVoid

Requires a subscription to Office 365… I hope they realize that Apple will be expecting a 30% cut of those subscriptions. smile

ipaqrat

For a hint of what Microsoft might have in mind, examine OneNote for iOS. It’s good, really. But it’s barely a shadow of OneNote on a proper Windows tablet with an active digitizer stylus. I do prefer MS Office 2011 on a Mac, but going mobile, I just bought a Windows 8 RT slate. My iPad is gathering dust already. Sucks that Apple didn’t have the stones to make Pages properly compatible with .docx.

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