14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is working hard to bring Office on some new platforms and according to a new report, the company has completed development of the iOS version and is now waiting for the green light to debut the product.
Reuters is reporting, via unnamed sources of course, that Office for iPhone and iPad is ready to launch, but Chief Executive Satya Nadella, who replaced Steve Ballmer at the helm of the company in February, needs to give his go-ahead to let the products hit the market.
Recent reports have confirmed that Office for iPad is a sure thing, but nobody knew exactly when the company was planning to bring it to users. It appears however that Office will hit iOS platforms before Android and Windows 8, which means that Microsoft sees Apple’s mobile platform as a very appealing market that could help boost revenues for the Office division.
Another thing that needs to be taken into consideration is the increasing competition coming from alternative productivity suites, most of which are offered free of charge, unlike Office that still remains a very expensive solution.
At this point, many companies and organizations across the world are dumping Office in the favor of open-source products such as LibreOffice, which provides almost the same functionality, but free of charge.
Microsoft, on the other hand, says that once users discover the power of Office, they’ll never want to go back to the products they used before.
“We have some pretty exciting plans,” John Case, the top Office marketing executive, told Reuters. “Certainly, interest in Office on the iPad is extreme. When they (customers) want to do real work, they are going to want to use Office.”
Bringing Office on mobile platforms, such as iOS and Android, was one of the main requirements of new Microsoft shareholder ValueAct Capital that purchased a $2 billion (€1.5 billion) stake in the company in 2013. ValueAct, which now has a member on Microsoft’s board, has asked the company’s leaders to expand the availability of Office and try to capitalize on its popularity as much as possible, which includes launches on mobile platforms such as iOS and Android.
Windows 8 will also get its very own touch-optimized version of Office sometime later this year, which would basically mean that users would be allowed to create and edit documents in the Modern UI without the need for a keyboard. The launch could take place in the second half of 2014, most likely after the debut of the iPad flavor.