Android users, take note: Microsoft Office apps are now available for free on your smartphones. In a blog post on Wednesday, Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate vice president for the Office Client Applications and Services team, made the annoucement that Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for Android phone join the same apps for tablet that were released in February.
Back in May, Microsoft previewed the Office for Android phone apps. Select users, on over 1,900 different phone models in 83 countries, got to try out the apps first hand and give feedback that Microsoft took into account.
"For example, we made it easier to connect to other popular third-party storage offerings like Google Drive and Box, as well as many usability adjustments to make it easier to navigate commands within the apps," Koenigsbauer said.
Don't worry about having to learn a new version of the software - the apps fuction and look much like the software used on other devices. This means you can review and edit on the go and present straight from your phone. There is quick access to documents as you switch from office to phone to tablet (it even shows where you were last working.) Third-party cloud storage providers are supported to make sharing easy. If you're looking to buy a new Android phone later this year, the apps will be preloaded on the device.
"The goal of these apps is to make sure that as people think about working, creating and doing, they think of Office as the default," Ebun Onagoruwa, a Microsoft product manager told Cnet.
The apps are free, but using the software's desktop iterations and accessing more mobile features requires an annual subscription to Office 365. Microsoft is hopeful that using the apps will incentivize people to buy the whole subscription so they can move between phone, tablet and laptop seamlessly.