14 DAY TRIAL // Recent reports have revealed that Microsoft is working to launch Office on iPad, a move that was first rumored last year when company shareholders started pressuring the chief executives to put more focus on the productivity suite.
According to a report by Reuters, thanks to these new rumors, Microsoft shares skyrocketed in the last 24 hours, reaching a 14-year high and thus confirming that the software giant needs to expand its productivity suite into unexplored sides of the market.
Microsoft’s stock increased by 5 percentage points to reach $39.90 (€28.68), which means that the company’s market value grew by $15 billion (€10.7 million) in just a few hours.
“We estimate that if 10% of the iPad install base were to subscribe to Office then this could add 15 million subscribers and generate $1.1 billion to $1.5 billion in consumer Office subscription revenue per year,” Bernstein Research analyst Mark Moerdler was quoted as saying.
Office for iPad could be unveiled on March 27 during a press conference in San Francisco that will see the new CEO Satya Nadella taking the stage for the first time in his new role. Word is that Office for iPad could also be introduced, although it’s not yet clear whether the company wants to make it available for users right now or wait for a few more months until the public launch.
It appears that, while Office for iPad would allow users to create and edit documents on their tablets, an Office 365 subscription would also be required, which pretty much makes sense given the fact that Redmond has recently introduced Office 365 Personal for individuals.
Office for iPad is, however, just one of the steps towards a broader expansion of the productivity suite, which also includes a touch-based version aimed at Windows 8 users as well as at Android versions.
The touch version of Office is very likely to debut soon after the public unveiling of the iPad build and is believed to come with the essential features one would need to work with documents in the Modern interface of their tablets.
As you could easily guess by simply reading its name, Office touch will be specifically designed for Windows tablets, which is basically just another attempt of the Redmond giant to boost the popularity of its controversial touch environment debuted with Windows 8 and often criticized for putting the focus so much on tablets and less on PCs and desktop computers.