A hebdomad that began with a flurry of Worldwide Developers Conference announcements from Apple is terminate with its once - fierce rival wee a footling news of its own . Microsoft on Friday announced a mobile version of its Office productiveness suite for the iPhone . The software giant ’s move resolve a longstanding demand for a translation of the world ’s most widely used spot package for one of the world ’s most pop mobile platform — though there are a twosome of big caveats that could fix just how widely this iOS - friendly version of Office gets adopted .
Microsoft ’s Office - for - iPhone proclamation could n’t have been more low - key than if it had charge company representative door to door to quietly spread the tidings . Microsoft broke the word on a Friday — that ’s the twenty-four hour period in the news stage business when you typically let mass know that you ’ve been indicted , or that those rumors about you are true and that you and the houseman hope everyone prise your privacy — post the announcement in its Office 365 blogand not , say , at a gamy - profile insistency upshot . That ’s a pregnant choice by Microsoft .
It ’s also a great deal to tolerate for iOS users , especially with our heads still swimming fromiOS 7 previewsandpromised Siri announcements . Still , here ’s a quick partitioning of everything we know about Microsoft ’s new Io offering so far .
What ’s the app call ?
What can I do with it ?
Do n’t discombobulate Office Mobile for a full - featured version of Microsoft ’s Office suite . you may employ the app to view and edit Word , Excel , and PowerPoint file . you’re able to even create Word papers and Excel spreadsheets on your iPhone , though not PowerPoint presentations . Documents , spreadsheets , and presentations look on your phone like they do on your computer silver screen — though pocket-sized , of class — thanks to the app ’s support for charts , animations , SmartArt computer graphic , and shapes . You ’ll get at those Word , Excel , and PowerPoint Indian file from SkyDrive , SkyDrive Pro and Sharepoint .
Microsoft put in some prissy touches aimed at nomadic users . Word and Excel both feature Viewing Tools that have you jump to specific orbit of document and spreadsheets , save you from an good afternoon of unending scrolling . In PowerPoint , a Slide Navigator performs much the same effort .
( We ’ll have a more elaborated hands - on with Office Mobile subsequently ; we ’ll update this story with a link once that clause becomes available . )
How is this different from other iOS apps from Microsoft ?
You ’re referring to theaptly bring up Microsoft OneNote , useable in disjoined iPhone and iPad versions , that let you jot down down notes and put in them in the swarm for posterior access from a Mac or PC — and not much else . It for certain was never design or marketed as a tool for business - forte writing or editing . Microsoft’sSkyDrive appallowed you to access , manage , and share files , but it lacks any kind of editing potentiality . For all its limitation , Office Mobile is undeniably Microsoft ’s first serious attempt to make a variation of Office for iOS users .
What is this croak to cost me ?
To download the app ? Why , it ’s loose ! Downloading Office Mobile wo n’t cost you a dime .
UsingOffice Mobile , on the other hand , will require you to pledge to Office 365 . That ’s Microsoft ’s cloud - based subscription oblation , and the Office 365 Home Premium edition costs you $ 10 a month or — if you give up front for an one-year subscription—$100 per year . ( you could apply Office 365 for free for 30 twenty-four hour period , though . ) Business users have their ownOffice 365 pricing .
Of naturally , tie Office Mobile to an Office 365 subscription may also have the unintended consequence of make Apple ’s wandering interpretation of iWork seem more attractive . Apple’sword - processing , spreadsheet , andpresentation appsfor Mobile River may be $ 10 each , but they work natively on both the iPhone and iPad , even if you do n’t have their Mac equivalent weight installed on your information processing system . ( have the Mac versions of Pages , Numbers , and Keynotewill , however , help you get more out of their Mobile River vis-a-vis . )
On a related note , if you wonder why Apple take the time out of its meddling WWDC schedule to note that acloud - based version of iWork is come soon(along with updates to the Mac and iOS versions ) , wonder no more . Apple obviously knew that a mobile rendering of Microsoft Office was on its style to the App Store and wanted to preemptively prompt people that it ’s got a few products of its own for on - the - go productivity mavens .
Why is this only available for the iPhone ?
Well , Microsoft has theseWindows-8 - powered tabletsthat it ’s trying to sell . Sales are n’t going peculiarly swimmingly , so it ’s not in Microsoft ’s interest to take the one vantage its Windows tablets have — consecrate versions of Office — and put out it to the iPad , otherwise known as the tablet people are in reality clamoring to buy . After all , when your latest ad campaignstout your power advantage , you ’re not about to grow around and push out a version of Office for the iPad . ( Of of course , you could always run Office Mobile on your iPad if you want : Like any iPhone app , it will run in a compatibility musical mode with a less - than - optimal resolution . “ You ’ll have a more satisfying experience using Office Web Apps , ” Microsoft pronounce . )
Any other scheme requirements I need to bang about ?
Besides that aforementioned Office 365 subscription , you ’ll call for to have an iPhone 4 , 4S , or 5 , or a fifth - genesis iPod touch . Those gadget need to be running iOS 6.1 or afterward . And if you want to take vantage of features like Resume Reading ( which lets you pick up in a document where you left off on your computer ) or Recent Documents ( in which you promptly get at on your iPhone what you ’ve recently work on back at the computing equipment ) , you ’ll need to have Office 2013 installed on a computer somewhere . That ’s theWindows version of Office , by the way .
Loek Essers of IDG News Service contributed to this report .
