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Microsoft Office for the iPad To Debut March 27

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Sources are telling the Verge that the long awaited, possibly already dated, debut for Microsoft Office for the iPad will happen on March 27. Satya Nadella is making his first foray in front of the media as the new Microsoft CEO on that date to unveil the direction he sees Microsoft heading with his “mobile first, cloud first” strategy. Nadella has been trumpeting that mantra since taking the job earlier this year. In the article mentioning that event, the Verge is saying that Nadella will be unveiling Office for the iPad as a major news item during that press gathering.

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This will come just shy of a week before Microsoft’s Build conference for developers kicks off on April 2. The press event sounds like an early conversation starter that will continue into the Build conference.

Microsoft Office for the iPad has been in development for quite some time and it has been longed for and hoped for by many for even longer. While some feel that Microsoft may have waited too long to introduce a version for the iPad, allowing competitors to get a foothold, some still feel that Office for the iPad will be a big boost for Microsoft. Undoubtedly it will sell many copies.

Most believe that the iPad version will be similar to the Office Mobile for 365 iOS version for the iPhone that requires an Office 365 subscription to edit and create documents in Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.

The long awaiting unveiling of Microsoft Office for the iPad comes after Microsoft today made versions of OneNote available for free for all operating systems including OS X. To take full advantage of the free software users need to have a OneDrive account (formerly Skydrive) to sync and store documents. OneDrive is tied into Office 365 and is a key component of Microsoft’s strategy moving forward.

Microsoft has recently unveiled plans for a one tablet/one computer version of Office 365 for $69.99 or $6.99 a month, which is cheaper than the full version that sells for $9.99 a month or $99.95 a year. The full Office 365 version allows up to five computers to use the applications included in the subscription.

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. dksmidtx

    03/17/2014 at 7:36 pm

    This is great news for many users. I know at the fanboy sites (like 9to5, MacRumors, etc.) they are deriding this as too little and too late – WRONG – it is late to the party, but it will be a runaway hit. If the iOS version of Office offers perfect file format fidelity, and nothing else, it will dominate the market. Every product out there now (and I have tried every one I can find) always mangles something in any Word document more complicated than a simple paragraph, almost like conversions back and forth between Word and WordPerfect.

    I am afraid this will be a killer decision against the infant Windows tablet market (yes, I know they’ve been trying since the 90’s, but Windows tablets have only taken off since Clover Trail and now Bay Trail), and Microsoft is going to have to prove that Windows 8.X can win on its own merits, nit just because they are holding Office hostage. Good luck with that. I am afraid that I will be typical of many longtime Windows (even DOS) users, and start to enjoy our decision to buy iPads.

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