ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley writes that Microsoft Office on the iPad is definitely on the way, and it may be here sooner than you might think!
Office for iPad — which I’ve recently heard is codenamed “Miramar” — isn’t dead. In fact, it’s likely to make it to market ahead of Microsoft’s touch-first version of Office (codenamed “Gemini”) according to a couple of my sources.
Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has been quoted as saying Office would arrive sometime after the “touch-first” version for Microsoft’s own devices. However, Foley’s sources tell her that Ballmer and other senior leaders at Microsoft may have had a change of heart before the big guy jumped ship, and Ballmer had OK’ed releasing Office for iPad as soon as it was ready, even if that did mean it would beat the Windows version out of the gate.
“I’m hearing that new date for Office for iPad is some time in the first half of calendar 2014. (My sources last summer were hearing Office for iPad wouldn’t debut until Fall 2014.)”
Foley has heard from her sources that Microsoft will offer Office for iPad as some sort of Office 365 type of subscription. The company has made Office Mobile available for the iPhone and Android devices, but has required an Office 365 subscription.
There’s still no official word on a release date from Microsoft, but it sounds like it could be coming soon.
