Microsoft Office may come to iPad before Windows 8

Posted:
in iPad edited February 2014
A report on Friday claims Microsoft may actually take the wraps off an iPad version of its Office productivity suite before releasing a touch-able iteration on the company's own Windows 8 platform.

Office


Speculation that Microsoft is biding its time with an Office for iPad release gathered steam on Friday after Microsoft's Executive Vice President of Marketing Tami Reller said the company was taking a "thoughtful" approach to cross-platform models. A follow-up report from ZDNet, however, claims the industry-leading productivity suite may actually land on iPad well before Windows.

According to the publication's sources, the made-for-iPad iteration bears the codename "Miramar" and is likely to make it to market ahead of a touch-first Windows implementation codenamed "Gemini."

As ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley explains, Microsoft's last public statements concerning Miramar hinted it would land after Gemini later this year. This came after rumors pegging the Office for iPad project dead in the water.

Sources now say that late last year Microsoft higher ups like former CEO Steve Ballmer agreed with a suggestion from the Office team to push out the iPad iteration as soon as it was ready. Apparently the iPad version is in a more advanced stage of development compared to a Windows 8 solution, meaning it will likely debut first.

While the publication's sources do not know an exact release date, some are looking at a rollout sometime in the first half of 2014. The purchase structure is also unknown, though Foley has heard it will likely require a subscription through Microsoft Office 365, much like the existing iPhone product.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 98
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Oh who cares at this stage.
  • Reply 2 of 98
    I have been using the existing product out of necessity, hopefully the full product is nicer.
  • Reply 3 of 98

    Can't believe it's taken them so long. Pathetic.

     

    That said, it'll be nice to have Excel for iPad.

  • Reply 4 of 98
    If this is possible, the geniuses at Microsoft might even get round to adding CalDav support this side of the next decade...
  • Reply 5 of 98
    Mac Office releases are staggered from Windows Office releases, so not unprecedented. And apps like Microsoft Word were available on Mac before the original Windows versions (DOS doesn't count).
  • Reply 6 of 98
    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post

    Mac Office releases are staggered from Windows Office releases, so not unprecedented. And apps like Microsoft Word were available on Mac before the original Windows versions (DOS doesn't count).



    Sure, but they haven’t been staggered with Apple first since… well, the beginning.

  • Reply 7 of 98
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Can't believe it's taken them so long. Pathetic.

    That said, it'll be nice to have Excel for iPad.

    Not for $99 a year it's not.
  • Reply 8 of 98
    If true, what does this tell us about the robustness of the Windows Mobile OS and the developer APIs/Tools vis a vis iOS?
  • Reply 9 of 98
    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post

    If true, what does this tell us about the robustness

     

    That it’s a 22A cup.

     

    Oh, robustness…

  • Reply 10 of 98
    Just when we thought we'd seen the limits of Microsoft's incompetence... They never cease to amaze...
  • Reply 11 of 98
    The new guy has more business sense than Ballmer who is so intertwined with windows he wasn't capable of making business decisions, just emotional decisions. That's why they are where they are. Pathetic indeed.
  • Reply 12 of 98
    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">If true, what does this tell us about the robustness</span>

    That it’s a 22A cup.

    Oh, robustness…

    LOL... You're as crazy as me!
  • Reply 13 of 98
    I can bet they won't want to access CalDAV for iCloud, DropBox or other cloud services, and will force a tie into their cloud services only.
  • Reply 14 of 98

    Buy office 365 on china website is 82$ with current exchange rate, this is what I did.

    never could work out why.

    Better than UK website which is 80uk pounds. so 99$usd.

    not sure how Microsoft calculate value in currency exchanges.

  • Reply 15 of 98
    cyniccynic Posts: 124member

    This would be the first sane decision to come out of Microsoft since iOS exists.

     

    There is no point debating this. iOS is the clear usage (not to say market) leader, leader when it comes to monetisation and especially Enterprise adoption. Microsoft should've released a full fledged touch office for iOS much earlier. That would've made most sense from a business perspective.

     

    Now, that they seem to have finally learned their lesson and hopefully realise that while they supply some major business software and solutions there is absolutely no point in using them as platform exclusives, trying to push a consumer product no one really wants.

     

    Let's just hope we're getting a real, full Office experience here and nothing similarly useless (as in incapable) to the iPhone version. Otherwise I don't see much of a point in iOS Office. Took them long enough, many people actually moved on already. The market won't wait another 5 years for a functional and compatible Microsoft version.

  • Reply 16 of 98
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by melgross View Post

     
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post



    Can't believe it's taken them so long. Pathetic.



    That said, it'll be nice to have Excel for iPad.




    Not for $99 a year it's not.

    Wow, a vague, oblique statement in a rumor-based article on a blog that says "...The purchase structure is also unknown, though Foley has heard it will likely require a subscription through Microsoft Office 365..." is enough for you to conclude that it'll cost "$99 per year."

     

    Doesn't take much by way of actual data to get you to make categorical statements, does it?

  • Reply 17 of 98
    bigpicsbigpics Posts: 1,397member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aussiepaul View Post



    Just when we thought we'd seen the limits of Microsoft's incompetence... They never cease to amaze...

    Rich with irony for sure...



    ...I couldn't believe Win 8 launched without any key MS Windows apps in the first place, at least Office, and, still lacking them years later, why there's any confusion about why Win 8 has been such a failure - for this reason alone.



    "Hello, you billion plus Windows users. Migrate to our new platform now en masse.  Of course there's nothing you've been using Windows for that you can do with the whole "modern" part (btw, we screwed the pooch by teaching you to say "Metro without doing trademark research), but it's animated with moving tiles!

     

    And touch friendly (if as less than probably 5% of you, you own a touch-capable Win device)! And there are a smattering of something resembling a few mobile apps that your workplace has no interest in or use for!



    And oh, none have common API's, but the PC interface at least kinda looks like the phone interface and the RT (say what?) interface that all require separate development to have 'One Windows everywhere'."

  • Reply 18 of 98

    Who cares. It will be slow, huge, difficult to use (same crappy UI especially for mobile?), expensive... It will only deserve as a direct comparison with iWork for iOS, so it will only increase iWork's value.

  • Reply 19 of 98
    I use Excel for work and Numbers at home, and I hate excel honestly. Way too cluttered.... Ill stick with my Numbers, and export to an Excel spreadsheet if need be.
  • Reply 20 of 98
    I can bet they won't want to access CalDAV for iCloud, DropBox or other cloud services, and will force a tie into their cloud services only.

    You may be right...MS will screw it up somehow. They will for sure if they make it touch aware the same way they did on the Surface... What a kluge...!!!
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