So many news about Microsoft recently. Now, the latest news is mobile versions of Microsoft Office for Android and iOS are expected to launch and will arrive for users in early 2013, according to The Verge. The mobile apps will be free and compatible with the both environments.
The Office will offer view and basic editing capabilities (for Office 365 subscribers) but won’t be seen as full replacements for stand-alone desktop versions of Microsoft Office. Users have to pay an Office 365 subscription fee in order to get more functionality of the apps.
The screenshots below show Microsoft Office Mobile with a Metro (or Modern) aesthetic with support for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. It appears, however, that users will need to download or pay for each app separately.
The screenshots also show that users will need to have an Office 365 subscription to edit documents. Users can view any document they want from the apps, but to create new documents or edit existing ones users need to pay. A subscription to Office 365 currently stars at $6 per user per month.
With growing demand Apple- and Google-powered devices so much of the market, Microsoft could quickly increase its presence in the apps market for those two platforms by making Office available on them.
However if people can get the widely used Office suite on an iOS or Android device, they might not need to buy a Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 device such as the Microsoft Surface tablet; other tablets from Asus, Dell or Lenovo; or smartphones from HTC, Nokia or Samsung.
Office Mobile for iOS will likely come to the App Store in late February or early March, and will come to Android in May 2013. Microsoft just launched its newest operating system, Windows 8, last month and new 10-inch tablet, Microsoft Surface which is considered as the most productive tablet in the market.
