Microsoft Office for the Apple iPad is official

As expected, Office for iPad is now official and includes Word, PowerPoint and Excel. This is not just a larger sized version of the Apple iPhone version of Office as it allows the user to take advantage of the larger-sized screen on the tablet. The app is free to download from the App Store, and without paying a dime, you can view documents and give presentations.

Once you start talking about editing a document, or starting a brand new one, you will need to pay for an Office 365 subscription. The Home Premium edition is $99.99 for a year while students pay $80 for the the University edition. Later this year, Microsoft will launch a $70 Personal edition. Office for iPad supports text re-flowing, formatting and more. Excel brings its own custom numeric keyboard. "This is definitely not the Windows app ported to the iPad," said Microsoft Office GM Julia White. Microsoft has also updated the Apple iPhone version of Office, making it free now for home use


For Microsoft, this could be a profitable offering. Bernstein Research analyst Mark Moerdler earlier this year estimated that if 10% of iPad users subscribe to Office, it could add $1.1 to $1.5 billion in revenue annually for the Redmond based software giant.


source: CNBC, TheVerge via Engadget