“Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s new CEO, will most likely announce the release of Microsoft Office for the iPad this coming March 27,” Almario Alexej Alcaraz writes for Seeking Alpha. “Rumor or not, this report of Office-for-the-iPad boosted MSFT’s price by as much as 5%. It is therefore likely that once Apple iLoyalists start perking up on this latest industry buzz, AAPL can rally past $550 again soon. It may even soar higher if the report proves true next week.”
“Like millions of iPad owners, I have been waiting for years for Microsoft to deliver its precious Office suite to the world’s best-selling tablet. Nadella’s decision to port its productivity suite to the iPad will really maximize the use of Apple’s tablet in the corporate environment,” Alcaraz writes. “A full-function Microsoft Office for the iPad can give Apple a solid boost in corporate sales… Since Google and Microsoft loathe each other, I think Nadella will not allow a full version of Office to port to Android tablets. This should slow down the entry of Android tablets in the lucrative enterprise market.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If it’s anything like the current, putrid Orifice for iPhone, it’ll flop.
Related articles:
Microsoft to release Office for iPad this month – March 17, 2014
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
The anticipation of purchasing a word processor from 1983 for my iPad Air is overwhelming. The mere suggestion of such a tantalizing prospect leaves me breathless. I may swoon.
…nay, ejaculate, then swoon.
This guy is writing from the perspective of a Windows lover, not hater like most of us here. From this perspective his argument is sound. For a Windows Office user the availability on iPads will make that device more attractive.
So far , the iPad has had no adoption issues in the corporate world without Office on iPad. People have moved on without Office and are better off for it.
I think you are deluding yourself if you think corporate America no longer uses MS Office. iPads adoption in the enterprise has been achieved *despite* is lack of Office. I doubt if I will use it, but I know hundreds of people that will ignore the Surface now because they can use an iPad and still access Outlook, Word and Excel.
You are fundamentally right but who actually said Corporate America is no longer using Office? Bit like condemning someone as deluded for thinking Corporate Japan doesn’t eat sushi when they simply say that workers don’t need to eat rice for a healthy diet.
No, Im not deluded, I’m simply stating facts. In 2012, iPad use in fortune 500 companies was 94%.. In 2013, it was reported even higher with “nearly every 500 company using iPad”
http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/fortune_500_companies_moving_to_ipad_hits_94
The only thing I have any possible need for is Excel and then it will depend on whether my current business files are compatible!!!
I agree. Excel is the ‘jewel in the crown’.
Exactly my sentiments. Apple’s alternative to Word and Powerpoint are superior. Numbers, on the other hand, is a very weak sister to Excel (even with the bloat that is any MSFT product). I would gladly dump Excel is Apple released a much more robust Numbers.
I care not about sharing my files with Office users, which I believe is inline with the vast majority the of individual (non-corporate) users.
I am guessing the ambivalence towards Office for iPad will be obvious in terms of adoption and any stock price increase. Word processors no longer rock my and many other’s boat. In fact only Excel has any value to me, and even that is dwindling.
This actually could be a big deal for the enterprise market because nearly every company relies on MS Office and has all of its documents in MS Office format. It would be a huge inconvenience to have to convert Office documents to iWork documents and vice versa. In that environment, everyone is using a Windows PC and Office. Compatibility is a big issue. Also, there a people who expect to have Office on their iPad and don’t want to deal with IWork, just out of habit. Due to these two reasons, Office for iPad would be a huge deal. It will be a lot like when Microsoft started making Office for Macs. By making Office for Macs, Microsoft effectively saved the Mac.
MSFT made Office for the Mac long before they did for Windows
As stated I think you are confusing the guarantee with continuing to produce Office for Mac not start making it as it was on Mac first.
I think you are right when you talk about habit though, that’s difficult to break so Office will be an advantage though I expect it will be a emasculated version which is where an ever improving IWorks comes in to keep the pressure up.
If iPad Office is anything as shitty as it is on the Mac, I am not in the smallest way interested. Convoluted spaghetti code that is unintuitive cumbersome and unproductive.
This may be the point that all of the iPad users will realize that they haven’t needed Microsoft’s crap so far and will never need anything else from them. It is time to sink that ship and the hopes of the new captain steering it into the footnotes of history.
I still think Excel is actually a pretty fantastic application. The rest of Office: not so irreplaceable or special. You can obviously do word processing well without Word, you had better not still be using PowerPoint for presentations, and Access, Viseo, whatever else is in Office were never close to the best at what they are supposed do. Excel is different, however. It’s really one of the major triumphs of the personal computing revolution, and so far no other application has really come close to replicating or surpassing it. It gives ordinary people powers normally reserved by statisticians, programmers, and math geniuses, and helps these kinds of people do their jobs better. I think Excel for iPad will be a boon for many people.
Really? How about Mathematica, Matlab, SciLab and R to name a few?
Correct me if this is a misstatement, but the iPad does not support trackpads or mice. I have a non Apple tablet and it is extremely difficult doing any spreadsheet or database work on it without using a mouse. I can not see Office being usable on an iPad unless it is either radically different from previous versions and/or Apple adds mouse or track pad support.
You’re absolutely right. If you can’t imagine it, it must be impossible. The only things that can be done in this world are the ones you personally can think up. Make sure you stick to the way you do things and don’t consider trying a new fangled way that might also work.
u can use a wireless mouse and/or keyboard on the iPad
1. An iPad can use a mouse, trackpad, keyboard, and pretty much any accessory that can connect to a computer wirelessly (also printers, microphones, speakers, motion detectors, weather monitoring stations, heart-rate monitors, telescopes, robots… imagination is really the only limiting factor in what can be connected to iPad.)
2. Most apps on the iPad are designed to not require accessories just for regular input. The idea that a person’s eyes, ears, voice, and 10 fingers are ideal tools for interacting with a computer is a predominant theme behind most iPad user interface design. This is why iPad apps tend to look a bit different than desktop apps.
3. There’s already a touch-screen version of Office for Windows 8, which you can look at if you still need help imagining how it could possibly work without requiring a mouse or touchpad. Here’s a little promotional page for it on Microsoft’s website, with videos of it in action – http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/office-2013-touch-guide-FX102821959.aspx
1. Thank you for the information
2. I called iPad tech support. iOS 7.1 and the iPad do not support trackpads or mice
3. Jailbroken iPads might support these devices
4. With a third party app an iPad or iPhone can be turned into a trackpad or mouse to control other devices
5. Touch Office looks much easier to interact with via touch compared to previous versions of Office
6. One of the ways I like to work is to mirror devices onto larger screens. The most efficient method of interacting with the UI under this use-case is with a Bluetooth keyboard, a trackpad, a mouse and a movable cursor which is visible on the larger screen. Without a visible cursor interaction is cumbersome because it requires looking down at the tablet to select.
7. I imagine future iPads will be able to morph into keyboards, game controllers or other I/O devices by manipulating the liquid metal casings and/or screens.
Oh, you’re totally right about the mouse, no support on iPad. Haven’t put too much thought into that before, but now that I have, I don’t see anyway a mouse could possibly be of use on an iPad. Touching a point on the screen will always be faster and easier than trying to move a cursor with a mouse, and you can always use a stylus when perfect precision matters. The best a mouse could do is act as a slower and less direct way of touching the screen.
If a mouse could be useful, I think the iPad would support it – there’s no technical limitation that would prevent it from. I think they don’t support it because it has a mouse has no practical significance with a touch screen computer.
How much? How bloated? How stable?