Microsoft Office Heading to the iPad?
The Daily provides an unverified report that Microsoft is planning to develop a version of its Office business app for the iPad. Microsoft Office is, of course, not a single application. It is a collection of office components that includes various combinations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, OneNote and other software.
Microsoft plans to get its Office software suite on the iPad
Assuming this speculation is true, one question is how will Microsoft deliver their office suite: Native app sold through the iTunes App Store or as a web app? The second big question is: How much will Microsoft charge for these Office apps? Microsoft has already provided a number of native iOS apps for the iPhone and iPad. However, all of these apps are free. This includes the only Office component currently available: A stripped down version of OneNote.
Apple sells its own office suite components – Pages, Numbers and Keynote – for $9.99 each. Microsoft could choose to go to either extreme: Apps for free or apps priced similar to their desktop counterparts.
Note: Microsoft’s HTML5 powered Skydrive update provides free web viewers for Word, Excel and PowerPoint that works in the iPad’s Safari mobile browser. It is, however, limited to viewing and does not enable editing.
