Microsoft is still working on Office for iPad, and it could debut before July, reports USENET newsgroups. While newsgroups had reported that Microsoft was working on Office for iPhone and iPad some time ago, it ultimately only rolled out an iPhone version and pointed tablet users to Office Web Apps. However, USENET newsgroup subscribers now reports that development on Office for iPad has both continued and been sped up in order to bring it to market fairly soon.
The product is “likely” to arrive before the touch-optimized version of Office that will run in the Windows 8.1 Start screen environment. Sources suggest that Office for iPad is codenamed ‘Miramar’ and was made a priority late last year. While no fixed release date has been given, it’s rumored to be in the first half of 2014.
As stated in newsgroups, Microsoft has found success on Apple’s platforms historically. The original version of Excel worked on a Mac before it was ready for Windows. Apple had a graphical interface before Microsoft, so Excel was on Apple computers first. Going iPad before Windows would just repeat the past.
The catch is that these USENET sources still don’t know if this will be an Office 365 app, just like we have for the iPhone, or if it will be a true Office suite of apps. Give the fact that the biggest factor that differentiates Windows on a tablet is Office, many newsgroup subscribers biggest bet is for this to require an Office 365 subscription, but we’ll hopefully know soon, as the sources claim that the launch will happen in the first-half of this year.
