Microsoft reports 12 million Office for iPad downloads

PanARMENIAN.Net - Microsoft has revealed that its Office for iPad has seen 12 million downloads in one week, but it didn't mention how many became subscribers, The Inquirer reports.

Microsoft Office apps have topped Apple's App Store charts since they were released, and Microsoft announced on Thursday, April 3, that download figures have reached the 12 million mark.

The firm announced the news in a tweet, saying, "More than 12 million downloads of Word, Excel, [Powerpoint] & Onenote for #iPad from the @AppStore < 3 #OfficeforiPad."

The firm has not said download numbers for the Microsoft Office apps, nor how many new Microsoft Office 365 subscribers it has picked up since the rented productivity suite's release. While Microsoft's apps including Word, Powerpoint, Onenote and Excel are free to download, users will need to pay subscription fees in order to create and edit documents, The Inquirer says.

Microsoft unveiled Microsoft Office for iPad at the end of March, after years of speculation. The apps were announced by the GM of Microsoft Office, Julia White, who said, "In this cloud-first mobile-first world, Microsoft is focused on empowering people to get more done wherever they need to and on any device, to help people do more on the device they choose."

Demonstrating Microsoft Word on an Apple tablet, she added, "This is unmistakably [Microsoft] Word, but it's also very natural on the iPad and this is a design paradigm we balanced to make sure these are great familiar [Microsoft] Office applications but also a wonderful touch iPad experience, so that way we know all our customers can be comfortable using these apps right away to get more done."