Microsoft announces Office for iPad, available for download today

[Shawn Knight]

Microsoft on Thursday revealed Office for iPad during a press briefing in San Francisco as part of their goal of empowering people to be productive across all devices. The product has reportedly been years in the making but according to Microsoft, there’s good reason for that.

This is an all-new version of Office built specifically for the iPad, not a ported version for Windows or a 2x zoom of the iPhone version.

Microsoft demonstrated Office for iPad which certainly looks and feels like a native application for Apple’s tablet. For example, it’s easy to interact with content as everything can be done using the touch screen and there’s even built-in collaboration with rich reviewing and markups for editing.

Excel offers a seamless experience with unique features like recommendations that use your actual data for previews and a custom keyboard with the functions you’ll use most. PowerPoint is also included in the suite although the company didn’t spend a ton of time discussing it in today’s media gathering.

Outside of Office for iPad – clearly the biggest news of the day – Microsoft spent a considerable amount of time talking about the “intersection of mobility and cloud,” talking directly to developers and discussing the work of IT professionals.

Office for iPad will be available for download starting at 11:00 AM PST for all users and it’s also part of Office 365. Microsoft is using a freemium business model so anyone with an iPad can download and use it to view documents and give presentations. Those wishing to edit documents, however, will need a subscription.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/56162-microsoft-announces-office-for-ipad-available-for-download-today.html

 

[kuroiei]

"Mobility and cloud"... damn, I really need to change my lifestyle. All day long I sit in front of my sturdy, reinforced, comfortable PC stronghold, RAID, SSDs, huge monitors and comfy keyboard & mouse... I need to run some distance, with a tablet in my pocket or something... Jokes aside, I watch the mobile race from a distance, it's just not my world.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Booooo! You need an Office 365 subscription! I would easily pay $10 for Word for iPad but instead you insist on us getting a $99 annual 365 subscription? No thanks.

 

[Guest]

Free to create and edit files if you subscribe to their $99 annual Office 365 subscription. So no it is not really free.

 

[Guest]

What do you expect? Microsoft has been selling Office at a premium for years, for them not to leverage their subscription model in mobile would be stupid, especially when it comes at the expense of their own platform.

 

[Guest]

Suck it second class citizens- Android Fanbois. Office 365 comes with 5 keys. You'll always lacked some sort of functionality but now you officially lack major functionality.

 

[Guest]

I guess if MS gave away their software, people would be happy.

 

[pmcardle]

I guess if MS gave away their software, people would be happy.

They would find something else to complain about...

 

[Jad Chaar]

What do you expect? Microsoft has been selling Office at a premium for years, for them not to leverage their subscription model in mobile would be stupid, especially when it comes at the expense of their own platform.

That is true, but I wish MS at least gave us a bit more functionality without a subscription and made some of the more powerhouse features available to those with a subscription.

 

[Guest]

Absolutely concur. Spot on my friend.

 

[spectrenad]

You most likely will be viewing documents on a tablet, not producing them. So basically, it's free.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

What do you expect? Microsoft has been selling Office at a premium for years, for them not to leverage their subscription model in mobile would be stupid, especially when it comes at the expense of their own platform.

That is true, but I wish MS at least gave us a bit more functionality without a subscription and made some of the more powerhouse features available to those with a subscription.

C'mon JC, stop complaining and pay the premium. You buy Apple products so it seems like you have money burning a hole in your pocket. Hell if I was MS I'd charge Apple users double for that reason alone.

 

[Burty117]

Luckily for me, I have Office 365 at work since we're a support company and need this stuff, All I can say is Microsoft have done a bang up job on the iPad, it's sleek, fast and loads even the largest documents I have nice and quickly, fully integrated into OneDrive and what not, it's actually quite well done.

Just a shame you can't buy it separately, from experience, I can guarantee people who buy an iPad would eventually just accept the fact the office suite on iPad is £50, they would buy it, they'd complain about it, but they would buy it.

Are you listening Microsoft? I promise you if you charged £50 for Word Excel and Powerpoint people would buy it.

 

[Jad Chaar]

C'mon JC, stop complaining and pay the premium. You buy Apple products so it seems like you have money burning a hole in your pocket. Hell if I was MS I'd charge Apple users double for that reason alone.

I have been contemplating paying the premium ever since it was released. Now I have an excuse to actually invest in it. But I am not sure the time is right currently. I have the standalone suites on my PC and my Mac already so there is really no point at the moment. But yeah you do have a point, I should just pucker up and pay it xD. I am just bitter that they didnt release it as a standalone. I guess that was the best business strategy so I aint blaming them.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Just a shame you can't buy it separately, from experience, I can guarantee people who buy an iPad would eventually just accept the fact the office suite on iPad is £50, they would buy it, they'd complain about it, but they would buy it.

Are you listening Microsoft? I promise you if you charged £50 for Word Excel and Powerpoint people would buy it.

Exactly!