“BGR has learned from a reliable source that Microsoft is currently planning to release the company’s full Office suite for not only Apple’s iPad, but for Android tablets as well,” Jonathan S. Geller reports for BGR.
MacDailyNews Take: Android tablets? Are they going to release a version for the Acorn Electron, too?
“The company is targeting November of this year for both launches,” Geller reports. “Additionally, our source has seen Microsoft Office running on an iPad first-hand and has said that it looks almost identical to the previous leak from The Daily a few months back, despite the fact that Microsoft flat out denied that the app was authentic. It is also plausible that Microsoft Office will be coming to the iPhone and iPod touch rather than only the iPad, as we’re told the loading screen in the app clearly said “Office for iOS” and not just iPad.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we explained on February 21, 2012 when Microsoft made their statement regarding talk of Office for iPad:
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.
Related articles:
Microsoft Word is cumbersome, inefficient, and obsolete; it’s time for it to die – April 12, 2012
Microsoft: Office for iPad story based on inaccurate rumors and speculation – February 21, 2012
Microsoft Office for iPad coming soon; no Android version planned – February 21, 2012
Too little, too late. I use iWork now for iOS. Can’t imagine myself going back to MS Office. It’ll be like giving myself an enema.
then by all means be sure to wait for Microsoft Orifice Full Colonic Irrigation Enterprise Edition…RT.
dam U – cleaning soda from my keyboard again…….dammit.
So funny!!
Gotcha! 😉
That was exceptional good.
Best comment all year.
Hilarity of the day award, well won.
That bidet is sure to come.
They probably saw the fake and copied the UI elements 😉
LOL!
Actually, they should probably hurry, before Samsung comes out with an identical-looking “Samsung Office App for Android” first. Microsoft’s copiers will have to work double-time to copy faster than Samsung’s copiers. 😉
And it’ll cost $299
probably not far off on the price…
Wait for the version 2.0 $199 update next year…
Yes, and it will not include the ‘full suite’ with Microsoft Access, the ONLY one I miss.
I thought they weren’t going to do it because they wanted to screw themselves (or was it Apple) even more. Go Microsoft! Keep up the zero presence in the tablet (read iPad) space. Heck, even BLN doesn’t miss you…
On the positive side, if/when this comes out for android tablets, you can be sure more than 50% of the users will pirate it. And it’s not going to be cheap either. This might be the kind of high profile piracy wake up call that gets other prospective devs to not waste their time on android.
This could be very good for Apple. I keep preaching iOS at the law firm I work for and am continually told that it will NEVER, EVER happen because law firms and their clients all use Word. If they do it well, it could be the final gasping death of Windows and the PC.
BamaNana,
Keep preaching the iOS and Apple gospel at your law firm. Law firms take FOREVER to change. Hell, some firms still use Word Perfect and insist on transmitting documents by fax. But even blacksmiths eventually drove cars.
With that being said, while Pages and Numbers are great, they aren’t powerful enough for many professional users including lawyers. Until Apple beefs up iWork, it is unrealistic to expect iWork to replace MS Office on the desktop in many professional environments including law offices.
Except for those law firms that still use WordPerfect.
I’ve had it explained to me, and it makes sense, in the kind of logic that only a lawyer could love.
“iPad at Work” is a book written by tech lawyer David Sparks. Covers how to better use iPad versions of Pages, Numbers, Keynote and others, for maximum work potential.
Apple should have pushed pages and keynote and numbers harder. Hardly anyone uses them especially since they haven’t touched the desktop version in ages.
I dont know office on a touchscreen device. Scary. I mean look at windows 7 phone and then the touch elements on win 8. Crappy and something out of the mid 90s
Not going to happen one version for Arm cpu’s and another for Intel’s Atom cpu’s yea right!! the Arm cpu’s will not supported in any significant way by Microsoft.
You’ll need to scroll sideways four pages on iPhone just to access the whole ribbon, then scroll down two pages to get to your document.
I think it’s a smart move.
In fact I wrote something about it a couple of days ago.
http://carlomazzini.blogspot.com/2012/05/future-of-microsoftof.html
I don’t mean to be a hit whore. Sorry about the link.
gee, how exciting! I sure do hope QuirkDepressed is next on the iPad, I can barely contain my euphoria over that notion.
Keeping it off my iOS devices.
IWork needs full standard open document ODF support. Then there would be no excuses for its adoption.
Without having tried or tested this app the experts have, with their assembled intelligence and objective analytical skills, declared Office for iOS a complete failure. Good work, fellas.
MS Word has many more features than Pages and they are all tastefully hidden in the new ribbon instead of concealed in a cascading menu. Given the new Metro UI it would be interesting to see how Word for Windows RT gets adapted for iOS.
The other question is will it be released as a Suite or as individual apps. If they price too high compared to Pages it won’t sell beyond folks that need Word compatibility. If iPad usage grows large enough, MS will HAVE to release Word for iOS to keep its hardware partners from going under. A cross-platform office suite might be just the thing. Then, they can use the iOS profits to finance Windows RT and try to Muscle out Apple in a decade or so.
If Microsoft is smart, they will offer a base version of their Suite, with the most commonly-used features, at a price low enough to appear competitive; and offer in-App purchase options to install additional features. Supposedly this is Ballmer’s specialty, Sales.
This kind of feature set offering would work more for Corporate users than for the General Public, but then Office was never intended for the general public anyway.
Just the patches alone for this will max out your ipad memory. Start deleting apps immediately! 🙂