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Microsoft: Office for iPad story based on inaccurate rumors and speculation

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 · 4:32 pm · 20 Comments

“A rumor that Microsoft is releasing an iPad version of its Office software was all over the Web on Tuesday,” Brian X. Chen reports for The New York Times. “But Microsoft says it’s just not true.”

“The buzz was kicked off by an article in The Daily, an iPad-based news publication,” Chen reports. “It said that a Microsoft Office app for the iPad would soon be submitted to Apple for approval and could be released in ‘the coming weeks.’”

Chen reports, “A Microsoft spokeswoman issued this statement: ‘The Daily story is based on inaccurate rumors and speculation. We have no further comment.’”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Chen is wrong: Nowhere does Microsoft say “it’s just not true.” Microsoft’s statement is a classic non-denial denial and just does not say that Office for iPad won’t be submitted to Apple for approval in the coming weeks.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Rainy Day" for the heads up.]

Related article:
Microsoft Office for iPad coming soon; no Android version planned – February 21, 2012

Categories: News

Tags: iPad, microsoft, Office, Office for iPad

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Comment Feed

20 Comments

ken1w

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 4:38 pm · Reply

“Inaccurate rumors and speculation” about Apple? Imagine that…
botvinnik

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 4:40 pm · Reply

who the hell cares?
- Thomas
  
  Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 9:35 pm · Reply
  
  I’m a huge fan of Apple and everything they sell. However, Excel cannot be beat for spreadsheets, and I for one need it on my iPad ASAP.
_Bill_

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 4:41 pm · Reply

AI has a screenshot here

Obviously, it could be fake…
WaterLily

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 4:44 pm · Reply

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=20141
bluejay

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 5:02 pm · Reply

wonder how it feels for them to get some sort of attention only because it is related to ipad hahaha
- burningzeppelin
  
  Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 2:43 am · Reply
  
  yea, so true.
Regan

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 5:05 pm · Reply

Microsoft is its own worst enemy. They could make a fortune if they pulled their fingers out and got office in both the iOS and Mac app stores and then prromoted the hell out of it. The masses are still dumb enough to think they need office.
markar12

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 5:11 pm · Reply

I prefer NeoOffice myself.
- BMWTwisty
  
  Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 6:17 pm · Reply
  
  NeoOffice is good, check out LibreOffice, too. Better UI, I think. IMO. FWIW.,,
drz

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 5:19 pm · Reply

More time for iWork to gain traction… remembering the many years MS let Office for Mac languish far behind its Win versions. Too bad Mac users still need Office at all.

Next step for Apple is to release iWork free for Windows and Unix (a la Internet Explorer) in order to go viral and ultimately replace Office.
markar12

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 5:37 pm · Reply

I think M$ thinks it can hurt OS X & iOS by delaying Office. Soon it won’t matter, iOS will become the wireless standard; and therefore Office will become disintermediated.
macromancer

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 5:46 pm · Reply

Microsoft has had 10 years to get tablet computing right. My guess is even if Office is released for iPad, it will be a real stinker.

They’ll probably ship it with a stylus or something.
- Ricky Badger
  
  Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 6:30 pm · Reply
  
  And it’ll be a left-handed one at that!
jaundiced

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 5:56 pm · Reply

Nah, most likely the highlight feature will be the return of Clippy.
Pirate

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 6:32 pm · Reply

I’ll go a different direction with my comment…

Good for Microsoft. I’d really like to be able to open and edit Office docs in their native environment. It might not be perfect, but at least it would be a step in the right direction.

I’m no Microsoft fan, but reality is that I use their products if even with resentment. There’s a huge new computing world out there, and like it or not, Microsoft has a seat at the table. I’d rather embrace their efforts than fight them. In my opinion, they’re slowly becoming less significant anyway (IBM, anyone?).
Coal Cracker

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 6:50 pm · Reply

MDN TAKE: right on! Astute analysis. Reminds me I have not seen “All the Presidents Men” in awhile …
janeshepard

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 7:15 pm · Reply

I’m sure Microsoft is working on it. They’ll have a version of Office for Windows tablets, and they’ll hedge by doing a version for iPad too. They want to make money.

The Daily has been on this story since last year. Just lately, Microsoft doesn’t care to talk about it, that’s all.

“A Microsoft spokeswoman issued this statement: ‘The Daily story is based on inaccurate rumors and speculation. We have no further comment.’”

She did NOT mention ACCURATE rumors and speculation—the kind that are usually planted by Microsoft themselves, and are also sometimes denied, as one of their favorite tools to generate buzz for otherwise insipid product introductions. This was, instead, more likely an unauthorized leak.
G-number

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 8:47 pm · Reply

Yes yes, won’t this be fun to watch!

Personally, I’ve been of two minds about it. One side says, WHY would they possibly release Office for iPad?? Office is their last card to play in giving people a reason, any reason, to go with a Win8 tablet (whenever THAT vaporware ever comes out). Why invite comparisons, so say nothing of wading into the rathole of pricing comparisons?

The other side says they’re in this biz to make $$ fullstop. With PC sales slowing to a crawl, Windoze isn’t a moneymaker; and Office has always paid the bills anyway, what with Win and Mac versions. What “success” Android can claim (or steal) is in the phone area not tablets: thus, MS cannot afford to sit by and watch this exploding iPad market go by without trying for a slice.

I’ve heard people say this is a bullshit rumour; and even if true, Apple has blocked entrants to the App Store who posed FAR less obvious competition to its own apps than iOS Office would. But I’d LOVE to see Apple show some cunning largess and call their bluff by approving it. It’d be a BRILLIANT move on Apple’s part. MS can’t afford to release brain-dead crapware for iOS (the way they neglected the Mac OS versions for so many years). There’s too many alternatives to Office on iPad already. And iWork has already competed against Office on the Mac for years, so its not like Apple needs to fear competition on iPad: there’s alternatives to BOTH of them as it is now.

And just imagine MS trying to price it…when iWork goes for 30 clams, can they afford to charge $100 or more for Office, on any mobile platform?? LIke I said, wont this be fun!!
HTML5 Gordon

Wednesday, February 22, 2012 - 7:59 am · Reply

The fact that Peter Ha (who worked on the article for The Daily) has been going back and forth with Microsoft on Twitter leads me to think that this is in fact real, and MS either just wasn’t ready for it to come out, or two clueless people in management haven’t talked and didn’t know that this was being “leaked” so one is trying to stop it, or MS is trying to use this method to get buzz.

Of course, if anybody could screw up something like the future announcement of what is probably one of the most anticipated (by businesses) software releases for the iPad, it would be MS.

From Peter Ha’s Twitter feed:
———-
Peter Ha: For the record: the image that accompanies our Office for iPad story is not fake.

@ThePeterHa: This image also ran with the story: http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/02/21/022112-tech-front/. Want to dispute this one too, @microsoft?

@ThePeterHa: If @Microsoft is pissed about what we published today on @Office for iPad, they likely won’t be happy with our follow up.

@MSFTNews: Great respect for The Daily but regrettably someone is giving them bad info, and that’ll be clear in the “coming weeks.”

@ThePeterHa: Feel free to call me, @microsoft PR. We’re friends. It’s cool. You have my number.
———-

I get the feeling that the only thing that may not be correct is The Daily’s timeline of it being available as soon as they reported. I definitely think it is coming. Let’s face it, Office is one of the few things MS has left.