The Verge is reporting that Microsoft Office is finally coming out for Android and iOS early next year. Like, for real this time. Apparently, it’s coming to iOS first in February or March, and will be available for Android soon thereafter in May.
The Office software will reportedly require a Microsoft account, and will launch with the ability to view documents. The ability to edit them is activated if you have an Office 365 account, which you can buy in-app. There aren’t any details about specific functionality that will or won’t be in the apps, but the report makes it pretty clear that you’ll still, obviously, need the full desktop versions.
There are also no specifics on pricing (or if the read-only version will be free), and security. Security will have to be a strong selling point for Office, along with compatibility, with the Google Drive apps offering similar functionality for free, so we’ll see what that turns up.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard “iOS Office is coming!” rumours, but this definitely seems more legitimate than previous go-rounds. And it’s still a big deal. A lot of people use Office! And a lot of people also use iOS and Android. And soon, early next year probably, those Venn diagramed into these apps will be able to more effectively ignore and estrange themselves from their loved ones as their work-life balance is further deteriorated by mobile Word and PowerPoint aplenty. [Verge]













Hmm… I would hope they would sell the software for a one-time fee instead of doing subscription-based sales. In-App subscriptions might be a bit more difficult to squeeze past the App Store guards…
100% allowed as per:
https://developer.apple.com/appstore/in-app-purchase/subscriptions.html
Microsoft will go one of two ways…They will either kill the App’s use completely after the subscription period has ended; or they will neuter things like saving to Skydrive, security updates etc. until you renew.
I just hope they work.
Office for Mac is just slow, looks horrible and just isn’t as user friendly as Office is on Windows.
But maybe it’s payback for iTunes on Windows. I don’t know.
Which version? The most recent one runs great for me.
Subscription based software? Fuck right off, Microsoft.