NEW
DELHI: Microsoft took its time but it has finally accepted that iPad and
iPhone are popular devices. On Thursday it announced a change in how it
offers its services and said that MS Office is now available to iPad
users.
In his first major press conference as CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella said that Microsoft will work to serve "users and organisations across devices" and not just those who use a computer or tablet powered by Windows. As the first example of Microsoft's new direction, Nadella then announced that the company is bringing MS Office, a popular productivity suite, to iPad.
The Office suite includes separate apps for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and will be available on the App Store starting 11:30pm IST.
The three Office apps will be free to download and will allow reading and presenting without the need to subscribe to Office 365. A subscription will also enable editing features.
The Office apps feature an interface similar to the Windows and Mac versions but have been optimised for a touchscreen. Unlike the Office for iPhone app that allows basic editing, the Office for iPad apps offer advanced features including full file compatibility with desktop versions, support for re-flowing, and formatting. Nadella said the vision with MS Office 365 was to make sure that a billion users could access it from any device and not only from a Windows device.
"We're bringing Office, the gold standard in getting things done, to the iPad. A billion people rely on Office every day, and we've worked diligently to create a version of Word, Excel and PowerPoint that delivers the best productivity experience available on the iPad. It's built from the ground up for touch, is unmistakably Office in its design, and is optimized for iPad," he wrote in an official blog post, that appeared on the Microsoft website after the press conference ended in San Francisco.
Microsoft has been criticized for not bringing Office, which is arguably the most popular software made by the company, to iPad. In its absence, apps like Kingsoft, Zoho and Apple's iWork apps (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) have thrived on mobile platforms. In fact, Apple now offers its iWork Office apps free with new iOS devices. This also means that Office for iPad will face competition from these apps.
In his first major press conference as CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella said that Microsoft will work to serve "users and organisations across devices" and not just those who use a computer or tablet powered by Windows. As the first example of Microsoft's new direction, Nadella then announced that the company is bringing MS Office, a popular productivity suite, to iPad.
The Office suite includes separate apps for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and will be available on the App Store starting 11:30pm IST.
The three Office apps will be free to download and will allow reading and presenting without the need to subscribe to Office 365. A subscription will also enable editing features.
The Office apps feature an interface similar to the Windows and Mac versions but have been optimised for a touchscreen. Unlike the Office for iPhone app that allows basic editing, the Office for iPad apps offer advanced features including full file compatibility with desktop versions, support for re-flowing, and formatting. Nadella said the vision with MS Office 365 was to make sure that a billion users could access it from any device and not only from a Windows device.
"We're bringing Office, the gold standard in getting things done, to the iPad. A billion people rely on Office every day, and we've worked diligently to create a version of Word, Excel and PowerPoint that delivers the best productivity experience available on the iPad. It's built from the ground up for touch, is unmistakably Office in its design, and is optimized for iPad," he wrote in an official blog post, that appeared on the Microsoft website after the press conference ended in San Francisco.
Microsoft has been criticized for not bringing Office, which is arguably the most popular software made by the company, to iPad. In its absence, apps like Kingsoft, Zoho and Apple's iWork apps (Pages, Numbers and Keynote) have thrived on mobile platforms. In fact, Apple now offers its iWork Office apps free with new iOS devices. This also means that Office for iPad will face competition from these apps.
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