Microsoft Still Hoping to Bring Office to iPhone?

[MacRumors]

TechCrunch reports on comments made by Stephen Elop, President of Microsoft's Business Division, at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco that suggest that Microsoft is still exploring ways to bring its Office suite of applications to the iPhone.

I’m here at the Web 2.0 Expo keynote, where Stephen Elop, President of Microsoft Business Division, hinted that we may be seeing Microsoft Office make its way to the iPhone some time soon. After his interviewer Tim O’Reilly caught him on the comment, Elop backtracked a bit, stating "not yet, keep watching". But it's clear that an iPhone version of Office is on his mind.

Fortune reported a year ago that Microsoft's Mac Business Unit was exploring its options for iPhone applications, and it appears that something may still be in the works.

Article Link: Microsoft Still Hoping to Bring Office to iPhone?

[kjs862]

This would be great! I hope Apple approves it.

[Eso]

Nice! Now to bring my HW assignments to print on campus, I can copy them to my iPhone through the USB, proofread and correct any errors during my commute, then print the final version when I arrive!

Oh yeah, you can't sync files over the USB. No bother, I'll just use AirSharing to get them on. Oh yeah, an MS Office app wouldn't be able to access AirSharing's files. Hrm, well I can just email them to myself, then email myself a second time if I need to!

Oh wait...

[cthielen]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

comments made by Stephen Elop, President of Microsoft's Business Division, at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco that suggest that Microsoft is still exploring ways to bring its Office suite of applications to the iPhone.

I assume this means viewers or simple editors. I doubt anybody who want to do serious Office work on their iPhones. That said, Mail can already view PDFs and .doc (and I think .xls?) so ... I'm a bit lost here. Can someone explain the significance of this? Is it just Microsoft showing additional iPhone interest?

[TunesRus90]

While this is intriguing, I am not getting my hopes up. It would have to be pretty full-featured and/or really cheap for me to buy it. I guess Excel and Powerpoint might be nice, but I believe the iPhone can already read most if not all office-related files, and I just don't see that much of a market for mobile document composing beyond what can already be done with other (sometimes free) apps.

Originally Posted by kjs862

This would be great! I hope Apple approves it.

If it were to be created, I see no reason whatsoever for Apple to not approve it. They get 30% of the revenue, why not?

[cthielen]

Originally Posted by Eso

Oh yeah, an MS Office app wouldn't be able to access AirSharing's files.

I forget which of the many file sharing apps on the iPhones has which features, but besides Bonjour you can always view a mini-website on your iPhone that has access to your files. I forget if AirSharing has this feature but I know one of the many other apps does and that's fairly universal - hell, I think it even works on Edge/3G (although your IP address is on some AT&T subnet).

[dj420118]

Apple should probably jump in and get iWork on the darn phone already. What is taking them so long!

[Saladinos]

Originally Posted by dj420118

Apple should probably jump in and get iWork on the darn phone already. What is taking them so long!

Who said that they haven't?

Office used to be a key strategic part of windows mobile. The ability to have apps on your mobile device that you're used to from your desktop machine. It is a testament to the utter failure of Microsoft's mobile strategy that Microsoft no longer believes keeping Office from the iPhone to be of net economic benefit to the company.

[wrldwzrd89]

I hate to be a party crasher, but... I'm against this. If Microsoft does make an iPhone version of Office I will stay away. My reasons are simple: Office on Mac OS (and on Windows) is bloated with features that most people never use, and it's extremely buggy as well.

[TheSlush]

Ah, irony.

[Abstract]

^^^ Ah come on. It was funny.

Originally Posted by TunesRus90

If it were to be created, I see no reason whatsoever for Apple to not approve it. They get 30% of the revenue, why not?

I agree with your reasoning, but it's Apple, so you never know.


They may be hoping to create their own iWorks app for the iPhone and sell it for more money than most other apps at the App store, say $30, and Microsoft's introduction of Office on the iPhone may cut into that profit considerably. I know that if I had a choice, I'd choose Office. Why would I need Pages on my iPhone? Or Numbers? MS Word on the iPhone is the killer app, not anything else offered by MS's Office suite, or iWorks.

[knightlie]

Originally Posted by wrldwzrd89

I hate to be a party crasher, but... I'm against this. If Microsoft does make an iPhone version of Office I will stay away. My reasons are simple: Office on Mac OS (and on Windows) is bloated with features that most people never use, and it's extremely buggy as well.

I'd never use it, but I can see how it would be useful for business users, even in just viewer form. But I can't see how they could cram the bloated and swollen useless-feature-fest that is Office onto the iPhone and have it usable. They should probably just make a suite of viewer apps, including perhaps a cut-down powerpoint player.

[twoodcc]

i think this would be great for the iphone. i hope it happens soon

[Telp]

I'm not sure I would buy, unless it was cheap enough, but the iPhone needs a real, good, office suite, by someone.

[muledogus]

As long as they make it bare enough to be quick.

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by TunesRus90

While this is intriguing, I am not getting my hopes up. It would have to be pretty full-featured and/or really cheap for me to buy it. ...

No offence, but a "full-featured" Office is not going to happen for a phone and nor should it. A better design is to work out a basic editor that isn't too cluttered and can perform basic tasks easily. Even more important would be syncing revisions with the web or your other computers or both.

I'm hoping Apple will come out with a simplified version of Pages and Numbers for the iPhone which are better applications anyway. If I could keep the documents I'm currently working on on MobileMe, access them from the iPhone on the way to work and keep everything in sync, I'd be a happy camper.

The big killer for MS Office on the iPhone will (IMO) be price. There is no way that MS will make it free, and given the price of their current offerings it will likely be in the $50+ range at minimum.

Anyone willing to pay that, will probably also be foolish enough to be satisfied, but most won't bother unless their business is paying for it.

Just like regular Office.

[Shuttleworth]

Originally Posted by dj420118

Apple should probably jump in and get iWork on the darn phone already. What is taking them so long!

iWork.com perhaps? that would be well suited to the iPhone.

[talkingfuture]

This would be cool for checking documents on the move etc. Doubt you could do any productive work on it, but when you need to look something up it would be ideal.

[MacVixen]

I would like to see Office or iWorks for the phone. I wouldn't use it alot, but it would be convenient for various email attachments that I get at times.

And this is probably a way stupid question, but... I saw this link posted yesterday - it's not Microsoft official, but wouldn't this do the same thing?

http://www.quickoffice.com/

It says Coming to iPhone April 2009, and based on the prices for the other mobile phones, seems as though it would be about $30 which doesn't seem like a bad price.

[stainlessliquid]

Id rather them start with msn/hotmail support in Mail.

As far as business uses go I think outlook could be really big, a lot of people rely on the calendar function heavily for meetings and reminders.

[BornAgainMac]

Microsoft is always "hoping" for a lot of things. It would be nice if you can run MS-Access applications on the iPhone or even the Mac.

[jtgotsjets]

Originally Posted by cthielen

I assume this means viewers or simple editors. I doubt anybody who want to do serious Office work on their iPhones. That said, Mail can already view PDFs and .doc (and I think .xls?) so ... I'm a bit lost here. Can someone explain the significance of this? Is it just Microsoft showing additional iPhone interest?

I think it is more the fact that there is absolutely nothing available in this vein currently.

Which is really, totally absurd. I mean, yes you're right, I don't want to be laying out pages and writing novels on my pod, but hell, word processing is just about the most basic app there is. It's been almost a year and the best anyone has given us is a couple glorified notes applications that have fewer features than text edit. Throw us a damn bone here—anything will do.

[macfan881]

and watch knowing how ridiculsy priced office is for pc and mac watch the iphone app be 50 bucks.

[jtgotsjets]

As a side note to those discussing cost—if Google would just get GoogleDocs working on the iPhone, we'd be good.

[JayLenochiniMac]

Originally Posted by MacVixen

http://www.quickoffice.com/

It says Coming to iPhone April 2009, and based on the prices for the other mobile phones, seems as though it would be about $30 which doesn't seem like a bad price.

Yes, they just screwed their existing customers by re-badging MobileFiles Pro (made to appear like a general file storage/reading/editing) to Quicksheet (which can only edit Excel files).