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Microsoft Office for iPad Coming 'Sooner Than Most Think'

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MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Microsoft has been rumored for a number of years to be bringing its Office productivity suite to the iPad, and according to a new report from ZDNet, it is coming "sooner than most think." Sources have indicated to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley that Office for iPad may even arrive before the "touch first" Windows version that had been reported to be leading the way.
But I hear Ballmer and the senior leaders of the company may have had a change of heart towards the end of last year. According to one of my contacts, Ballmer OK'd the suggestion by the Office team that they'd bring Office for iPad to market as soon as it was ready, even though that would likely mean before the Windows 8 version. I'm hearing that new date for Office for iPad is some time in the first half of calendar 2014. (My sources last summer were hearing Office for iPad wouldn't debut until Fall 2014.)
Click to expand...
office_logo.jpg
Foley notes that it is still unclear in exactly what form Office for iPad will arrive, but it will presumably involve Microsoft's Office 365 subscription service and potentially integrate with the company's OneDrive cloud storage. The company currently offers an iPhone app that offers viewing and limited editing capabilities, with the available free of charge but requiring an Office 365 subscription.

Article Link: Microsoft Office for iPad Coming 'Sooner Than Most Think'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/02/14/office-ipad-soon/
AngerDanger

AngerDanger

Graphics
Staff member
Dec 9, 2008
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Is it coming sooner than "I don't think about it at all"? That's pretty fast! :p
 
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tdiaz

macrumors 6502
Feb 7, 2006
477
73
Sooner than most think? But not all.

Lets see if it's a subscription .. it will have to compete with things that are not, and have a lot less restrictions.
 
Z

Z400Racer37

macrumors 6502a
Feb 7, 2011
711
1,664
iWork for iPad. Been here. Use it. Can convert it to word thru iCloud if you really need to.
 
bushido

bushido

Suspended
Mar 26, 2008
8,070
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more like too late. i feel lije ive been reading about it for over 2 years

i wouldnt mind Office 2014 for the Mac tho
 
ck2875

ck2875

macrumors 65816
Mar 25, 2009
1,029
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Well I figured it was never coming to iPad so that consumers would be forced to buy Surface if they wanted Office, so sooner than I think is not necessarily that soon.
 
charlituna

charlituna

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Jun 11, 2008
9,636
816
Los Angeles, CA
If you believe the talk, Office has been 'just about to be released' for months. it's actually about to tie with the Real Apple TV for the most 'delays'
 
Pakaku

Pakaku

macrumors 68040
Aug 29, 2009
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"Coming sooner than most people think"

"Has been rumored for a number of years"

Well okay then
 
Y

Yelmurc

macrumors regular
Apr 16, 2008
219
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Houston TX
Office is a huge card in Microsofts hand. Releasing Office for iPad is going to hurt them. One less reason to buy a surface.
 
O

OGDK

macrumors member
Feb 11, 2014
44
0
Too late, I switched to iWork 6 years ago. The only useful part is Excel, which isn't useful on an iPad. Then again, the iPad itself isn't very useful either.

If it's integrated with OneDrive, I guess it's also officially worse than Office '98.
 
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WhoDaKat

macrumors 6502
May 20, 2006
379
665
iWork works like a champ, sorry MS, too little too late. Did I mention its free? If you don't like living inside the walled garden there is always Google Docs. By Apple and Google giving their work suites away for free, they are really torpedoing MS. I'll be interested to see if this launches with a subscription. LOL If it does. Their market will be all the people that can only use Excel.
 
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unplugme71

macrumors 68030
May 20, 2011
2,827
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Yelmurc said:
Office is a huge card in Microsofts hand. Releasing Office for iPad is going to hurt them. One less reason to buy a surface.
Click to expand...

Having your competition use other software will hurt them as well.

iPad sales > Surface sales.

If only 1% of iPad users bought Office it would probably take 98% of Surface users to equal it.
 
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unplugme71

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May 20, 2011
2,827
754
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OGDK said:
Too late, I switched to iWork 6 years ago. The only useful part is Excel, which isn't useful on an iPad. Then again, the iPad itself isn't very useful either.
Click to expand...

iWork is fine for 90% of what I do. Once Numbers catches up to Excel in some functionality, I wouldn't need office at all.
 
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luv2seaters

macrumors newbie
Oct 22, 2012
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Im sure it will arrive.With Microsofts typical lack of quality.Crashing, bugs, locking up.Why anyone buys anything from them I find mind boggling.
 
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OGDK

macrumors member
Feb 11, 2014
44
0
unplugme71 said:
iWork is fine for 90% of what I do. Once Numbers catches up to Excel in some functionality, I wouldn't need office at all.
Click to expand...

Same. I'm shocked at how poorly Numbers handles graphs. It's pretty much unusable if I want a single graph.
 
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rainbowsofwhite

macrumors 6502
Jul 21, 2011
277
0
umm, I don't get it..

I purchased an iPad Air at Christmas for the family to use and
I just can't stand using that silly keyboard for typing, maybe it's just me.

It's great for using apps etc, but it'll never replace my MacBook Pro.
 
BC2009

BC2009

macrumors 68020
Jul 1, 2009
2,237
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If this showed up 2 years ago when the Surface debuted, then I would have forked over the money in a heartbeat.

I have gotten so comfortable with using iWork for everything now that I just cannot see spending the money.

Too little. Too late.

Microsoft should have embraced iOS when iPad debuted in order to keep Office relevant to everyone. They have already lost many users because of dragging their feet.

Office for Surface was a joke. It launched desktop mode and it thought "touch optimized" meant bigger icons with more space. The entire ribbon interface is unfriendly on a tablet. More swipes and gestures and less buttons and menus. The fact that they acknowledge that they still don't have a touch-optimized version of Office only validates my impression of the highly-touted Office for Surface.

I just wish Microsoft would have seen that it was foolish to sacrifice Office at the altar of Windows and realized that Office was the best product to focus on in the Post-PC era. Betting everything on a new operating system that you bolt on to the old operating system is foolish. In fact, its the reason why Windows takes up so much of the storage space on mobile devices -- the OS and apps like Office are still dependent on a bloated set of DLLs designed for the desktop world. The day the iPad was announced, Microsoft should have invested in recreating Office from the ground up for mobile (for iOS as well as an planned successor for Windows).
 
S

seble

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2010
972
163
luv2seaters said:
Im sure it will arrive.With Microsofts typical lack of quality.Crashing, bugs, locking up.Why anyone buys anything from them I find mind boggling.
Click to expand...

Ah so just like the current iterations of Apple's most recent products!
 
Z

zone23

macrumors 68000
May 10, 2012
1,986
793
Microsoft needs to focus on making software for ALL operating systems not just for Windows. MS they make software that's what they are supposed to do...

I remember when they had Office for Mac.
 
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