“CNNMoney.com has a story making the rounds this morning that quotes a Morgan Stanley analyst who says that Microsoft is potentially making a very costly mistake by not offering an iPad version of Office. ‘Two and a half billion dollars. That’s how much Morgan Stanley’s Adam Holt estimates Microsoft may be leaving on the table by not offering a full version of its Office suite (Word, Excel, etc.) on Apple’s iPads,’” Greg Bussmann writes for The St. Louis Social Media and Tech Report.

“The only problem with this is that, by all accounts, Microsoft is going to release a version of Office for the iPad,” Bussmann writes. “The analyst may be seizing on a recent ‘no comment’ Steve Ballmer issued when asked specifically about it, but there is pretty good indication that Office for iOS will be here soon.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Oh, no, Microsoft. You don’t want to release Office for iOS. Remember, that would kill your Surface sales, not to mention further obliterate Windows-licensed PC sales as those who think they need Office opt for iPads. No, stay away from that nasty iPad, protect your Surface tablets and Windows PCs!

Related articles:
To stellar CEO Steve Ballmer, Office without iPad support makes ‘a lot of sense’ – January 30, 2013
Microsoft to release Office for Apple iPhone, iPad in early 2013; stripped down apps to offer limited functionality, sources say – November 7, 2012
Microsoft Office killer: Apple and VMware team to build cloud-hosted office suite for iPad, sources say – October 22, 2012
Microsoft working on Office for iPad, say sources – November 29, 2011