“Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has revealed that the company is planning to bring Office to the iPad with a touch user interface,” Tom Warren reports for The Verge.
“Speaking at a Gartner event in Florida today, Ballmer said ‘iPad will be picked up when there’s a touch first user interface,'” Warren reports. “That touch first interface appears to be making its way to the Windows version of Office first, with the iPad edition to follow afterwards. Ballmer noted the touch first interface is ‘in progress.'”
Warren reports, “It’s unclear if Microsoft’s Office for iPad app will require an Office 365 subscription like the iPhone version, and when the company plans to introduce it.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: No rush.
The longer Microsoft dithers, the more people wake up to the fact that Office is not necessary. iPad is taking the enterprise by storm. No Microsoft Office needed. Take your time, dummies. – MacDailyNews, April 10, 2013
Related articles:
NY Times’ Pogue: Microsoft’s Office Mobile for iPhone is very little, very late – June 19, 2013
Microsoft releases Office Mobile for iPhone via Apple App Store – June 14, 2013
Apple’s iOS continues to dominate the mobile enterprise – February 26, 2013
9 out of 10 businesses support Apple iPhones and iPads – February 6, 2013
Gartner: By 2014, Apple will be as accepted by enterprise IT as Microsoft is today – February 4, 2013
NetSuite CEO: Apple will become the model for the successful next-gen enterprise software company – January 10, 2013
Apple’s incursions into the enterprise begin to add up – December 13, 2012
Enterprises buying iPhones ‘in droves’: Here’s the tipping point – November 27, 2012
Apple Macs continue to invade the enterprise – September 5, 2012
Gartner: Apple Macs invading the Windows PC-dominated enterprise – June 6, 2012
Report: 6 of top 10 enterprise devices using Good Technology are iOS, 97% of tablets are iPad – April 26, 2012
Apple iPad in the enterprise: A videoconferencing dream machine – April 10, 2012
Demand for Apple’s new iPad has powerful impact on corporate market – March 13, 2012
I am not a fan of Microsoft, and I switched to iWork some years ago. Recently, however, I have had cause to dig out my old version of Excel and Word; Excel to format sheets which require pagination (bank reconciliations) and Word to allow marked up edits which can be shared in a legal environment.
Pages is nice enough to use, for simple things and pretty documents. Word, even after 5 years, is more capable and more intuitive for highly formatted documents. The ease of use surprised me. Numbers is, well, a toy.
I hope Apple reveals a new iWork soon, with features which will make it useful in a business environment. Until then I am not deleting my ancient copy of Office.
Keep your “ancient copy” of Office and guard it carefully, because this “touch-first user interface” sounds like another attempt (after the Windows 8 kludge) to force touchscreen laptops and desktops on existing Windows users.
I’ve seen Word and Excel power users in action. They use their keyboards like a virtuoso pianist. They rarely even touch their mouse, and Microsoft’s going to tell them to “touch the screen first.” Microsoft has zero respect for its existing customer base.
Microsoft can’t get rid of Steve Ballmer fast enough… He’s trying kill BOTH cash cows before he leaves.
Fact is most business users never touch 90% of a program like Word so it is wrong to define that minority as being typical. As for intuitive after 20 years of struggling with the spaghetti that is Word that is the last word i would use for it with dead attempts to jazz up the interface only to go off in a different direction every few years and most menus for anything more complex hidden away one feels just to annoy the user. Im sure there is a decent usable program in there somewhere but it will never be revealed under Microsoft techie attitudes to its users.
Maybe they should just include a pair of giant dice and leave well enough alone.
That’s funny, I have done the opposite. After years and years of writing and editing 25 page proposals, patents, and reports to the govt, I finally got fed up with Word destroying a document when I added the third graph, or picture.
When Pages came out, I would write everything in it, then export to Word. If I got something in Word to edit, I stayed in Word, or imported it into Pages, then exported out.
I use LibreOffice instead of Excel, because it has a sane interface and is just as powerful for technical calculations. I can always translate into/out of Excel except when the macros get hairy. Then I tell my clients to get a free copy of LO to see my work, or I print out PDFs to email them.
This is true, I’ve not implemented Numbers in my business, because it’s basically a toy. I agree, most of the people don’t use excel to the limit, but there are some of us who do need it.
Until then…
Take your time M$. Don’t rush it out the door too soon. Personally I prefer Apple’s Office Package. It works for me and that’s good enough. Hey Ballmer, when in the hell are you leaving M$?, oh I’m sorry I was hoping you would stay CEO for a long time. LMBO
iWork is free on new iOS devices. So, MS, no need to hurry.
But. Apply needs to hurry up with a new, improved and feature-rich version of iWork or it risks losing out to Microsoft. Apple could lock down mobile office suites if it would get a moe on a new iWork for Mac and iOS. Free is only good for so much; eventually there are features needed that are very much lacking in the iOS versions.
I look forward to seeing Office for iPad/Mac for about 10 bucks a pop, cutting Apple a nice 30%. Long Live Microsoft aka Xbox Corp. Bring on Alan Mullaly. 😉
Except for the fact that when it finally arrives, won’t it really be “touch-last”?
Sounds right. Or maybe it’s “Touch first. Virus to follow.”
The only part in the office suite worth anything is EXCEL.
before anyone says NUMBERS is better, it isn’t. imo, Excel is the true and unassuming crown jewel for MS
Excel is fairly good, it used to be great back when it was Mac only.
Yes Excel is still a favorite and I haven’t seen anything yet to really replace it. (Much as I HATE to say that.)
You should have seen Lotus Improv and Lighthouse Designs’ Quantrix on NeXTSTEP.
-jcr
Everyone move along. Nothing to see here.
Hey what’s this crazy ‘touch first interface’ all about? It sounds so neato & modern. I can’t wait until there are ‘touch’ capable devices to take advantage of this major new leap in technology . Can you imagine one day using a touch device and with Word on it?? Wow. Balmer is a visionary. So ahead of the curve on this touch thingy. Hopefully Apple will come out with their own touch interface.
Maybe Fox News can use it on those low res spiffy 55′” touch screen workstations. Wouldn’t that be cool, hip, and happening? You go Uncle Festor Monkey Boy. We like it, we like it a lot.
I’m still wondering what the hell he means regarding “touch first interface”.
NO ONE CARES ANY MORE.
and my favorite quote from Ol Balmsy: “..and it doesn’t even have a keyboard!! Yuk yuk yuk..”
After the $900 million surface write off that put a shit stain the size of Nebraska in Ballmer’s underwear, one would have thought that they would put priority in getting this out to the best Eco system that is the App Store ASAP to make money and spread their software. Typical MicroSHIT, getting priorities all wrong
No thanks, Pages is just fine for my needs. Plus, if I get a Word document, I can open it in Pages. Not to mention, Apple is now giving it away. Microsoft can keep their bloated, 95% never used features POS down the road. Why is Monkey Boy still making key decisions? Shouldn’t he be hiding in retirement somewhere, keeping his shame from public view. Uncle Festor needs to just go away.
I have had Pages open Word docs (I get them from every part of Europe in endless versions) that Word itself cant open, actually had one this morning from Poland. Rarely if ever had to do something with Word that Pages could not do and in some cases it could do it better, for example butting up pics to the edge which Word simply refused to do without leaving a narrow white strip even though it was set to 0.
Love it: target a niche market first (Windows 8) and then later expand into the major market of iPad. MS is saying either they are clueless or they don’t feel up to tackling the iPad app space until they have a smaller market under their belt.
Roadmap Release date: 2012
Actual release date: 2023
As an ex-MS employee it blows my mind that MS could release a touch-enabled device that Office DOESN’t support. That IE doesn’t support. That doesn’t support the Outlook rich client on Windows RT. Are you serious? WTF?!
Rome is burning and you fools are fiddling.
Rome has burned. The embers are still hot until Uncle Fester leaves. The new CEO can either build or bury, I vote for the latter.
Our biggest issue at work has been figuring out what to do with the iPad.
Everyone wants one but no one can really figure out it fits in their work flow.
Until it becomes a content creation device vs. a consumption device its only going to go so far.
The only place it has really worked well for us is for people in the field that just need to submit a report on a website with fields you fill in.
I would have to say that you have never really used an iPad from 1st gen to now. I have been using it as a “content creation” device since I bought my first one and made presentations to clients with Keynote and video presentations. Then creating contracts to complete the negotiations. Hmmm, maybe I am just not aware of how feature rich content creation will be with a WindBlows product. How foolish of me.
Hoo roo
Sounds like we work in two very different industries.
My business got on board with the iPad2 right after it launched. Its been most effective in 2 places for us. Basic data entry and presentations.
It has shined like gold in the field. Put even a minimal case on it and it will take at least 3 times the abuse of any pc laptop short of a toughbook.
For the majority of enterprise work however from HR to Corp Finance it ends up lacking in its current state in some way that stops the adoption.
That has been my experience.
You do realize you can use a Bluetooth keyboard with an iPad? And now with the advent of iOS 7, you can use a mouse too. Wasn’t that supposed to be the big advantage of Microsoft’s tablet? If people really need to do heavy duty creation, than use an MacBook Air or a desktop or laptop of choice, and use the iPad for for presenting your creations. Even the MS Tablet isn’t an ideal creation tool. This goes back to the Microsoft strategy of, Jack of all trades and master of none. How’s that kickstand working out for you?
We aren’t using any windows 8 devices or MS surface devices.
We don’t even run windows 8 on our desktop PCs.
We have a mix of PCs on win7, mac pros on lion and some ipads.
it works well for what we are doing. I see the iPad as more of a companion device in the enterprise than a replacement for desktop systems.
Microsoft and Balmer: always too late to the game and clueless once in it.
When I send a manuscript for a book or article to a publisher, I still need Word. When I send a spread sheet to my accountant I still need Excel. When publishers and accountants grow up, I’ll abandon Office, but for now, I’m stuck with it.
Not only can Pages and Numbers import files created in Word and Excel, they can export to those programs as well. Kind of makes your argument a mute point. Unless there’s a feature not supported. Sounds like you’re pretty much just dealing with text though, I don’t see your point.
I haven’t used nasty Microsoft Office in decades. There are excellent free and less expensive paid alternatives aplenty, many of which are quite compatible with Microsoft’s formats. That’s one reason I am the person my friends turn to when they have some obscure document file then need to make compatible with their Office installation. I don’t HAVE Office, but I can run and translate more document formats than Office. I’m better off without Office.
Amusing, eh?
I agree. If you look, you will find alternatives to microsluts orifice. People that say they have to keep office around haven’t done their homework.
Please hurry up Microsoft and release Office for the iPad. iPad sales are floundering because Office doesn’t exist yet on the iPad. No one in their right minds would ever buy an iPad without Office, because what in the world could you do with an iPad without Office.
So please, please, please Microsoft get Office for the iPad released already before the iPad dies.
(The sad part is Ballmer will read this comment and believe it).
A new campaign called “Keep Microsluts infected pus ridden junk outta my iPad” exists. http://Www.saynotomicroslutonmypad.nope
If you haven’t already joined up, you should. 😉
Dude, if you’re going to include a link with your post, make sure it works.
Didn’t you see the winking smiley? Also, the famous dot-nope domain…
What a depressing article. Can you imagine the emotional drain of working on a “touch first” version of Office? Then trying to port that mess to iOS? OMG!
I can see this “Touch First” office happening only if MacBU were to do the interface. From what I’ve heard, these guys are genuine Macheads, and they fight hard to preserve as much as they possibly can of the Mac OS user interface guidelines in MS crapware. Their success rate is patchy, though (oftentimes, the main MS wing wins, occasionally, MacBU prevails), but they have the chops to develop an interface that conforms to Apple’s own standards.
Knowing MS, I’m pretty sure this will never happen, and this “touch-first” interface will be developed by the core Office / Windows team, far away from MacBU and their mindset. And we all know how amazing the results of the mainstream Office / Windows design/development team are…
Reblogged this on Sutoprise Avenue, A SutoCom Source.
I think Mac Daily News is delusion.
Office is necessary and extremely important. Why do you think it’s everywhere? Fools… Brining Office to the iPad will mean a tremendous much for Apple and the Enterprise. It’s the missing corner stone. I hope they bring it really soon. We need it. Apple need it.