After years of speculation about its plans for Apple’s tablet, Microsoft will release Office for iPad — including Word, Excel and PowerPoint — at 11 a.m. today, the company just announced at a press briefing in San Francisco.
Microsoft says the apps are designed feel native to the iPad but maintain file fidelity with other versions of Office, making it easier for users to share documents across different devices and platforms.
The company is playing catch-up on the iPad, with many alternative apps providing basic note-taking and document creation on the Apple tablet, but Microsoft is banking on Office’s features and brand as key differentiators.
“This is an example of something that no one but Office can do,” said Julia White, a Microsoft Office general manager, demonstrating the rich, touch-based editing capabilities of the Word App for iPad on stage at the event. Demonstrating the features, she said the apps are “uniquely built for the iPad,” not just ported from Windows or copied from the existing Office Mobile for iPhone.
The apps will require an Office 365 subscription for full functionality and editing, but they can be used to display documents for free. Microsoft recently launched a “personal” Office 365 subscription that will cost $6.99 per month, or $69.99 a year, and will allow users to connect one Mac or PC and one tablet to Office 365.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella opened the event — his first public talk since taking over the role — talking about his vision for the company across cloud services and mobile computing. “Everything we do is grounded in a world view of ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence,” he said.
Follow along with our live blog from San Francisco, and check back for updates.
