Chip Chick
Microsoft has made a lot of noise about their services over the past year, especially where Office is concerned. We’ve seen Office go into the cloud as a service, and we’ve seen Office apps on just about every platform imaginable. All except for one, that is. Well, that’s finally changed – Microsoft Office is now (at least a little) available for the iPad.
Don’t get too excited yet – there’s still more work to be done. For now, only Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are available for the iPad on the iTunes App Store. The reason for the delay seems to be that Microsoft has put a lot of thought into how the more touch-friendly iPad users interact with their tablets in different ways. Basically, Microsoft is trying to make the Office apps seems as native as they can to Apple’s tablet, which is no mean feat.
But, the important part is that now, finally, you can work within Microsoft Office apps on virtually any device or computer you own. And, if you have an Android or iOS phone, here’s a even better deal – Office Mobile for those two platforms is now free.
Don’t forget, this is all still based on a service model. You’ll be able to download these iPad apps, but you won’t be able to edit or create anything without an Office 365 subscription. The good news is, if you already have a subscription, kick back and enjoy – Office for iPad in all of its forms is good to go with existing subscriptions.
