iPad version of Microsoft Office coming soon – report

PanARMENIAN.Net - An iPad version of Microsoft Office is set to be launched imminently, The Telegraph reports citing The Daily.

Microsoft has recently launched a version of OneNote for the iPad, and an expanded version of the entire Office suite has long been widely expected to come this year.

The Daily, however, reports that the new software could be available within weeks.

The site claims that the new design is influenced by ‘Metro’, which is Microsoft’s name for the look and feel of Windows 8 and its current Windows Phone operating system.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint files can reportedly be created and edited locally and online, although it’s not clear whether the new software is likely to primarily run natively on iPads or be a remote version of desktop software.

It remains unclear whether Microsoft plans to launch other apps from its productivity suite, which is currently significantly more profitable than its entire Windows division.

The Daily also reports that a version of Office for Google’s Android platform is not currently under development, although it is also not clear whether Microsoft would reconsider that stance if Android tablet’s became more popular.

The two corporations, however, have recently been engaged in a war of words over whether Google has been circumventing Internet Explorer 9’s privacy settings. Bloggers and commentators have suggested that Microsoft is citing a protocol which is in fact routinely flouted.