Microsoft unveils Office for iPad

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft on Thursday unveiled Office
for the iPad, a software suite that includes programs such as Word,
Excel and PowerPoint, and works on rival Apple Inc.’s hugely popular
tablet computer.
The app was to be made available for download on Thursday in the App Store at 11 a.m. Pacific time.
Office
for the iPad corrects layout problems that users experienced when
accessing files they had saved on Microsoft’s cloud storage service,
OneDrive.
The app has touch-enabled features that allow users to
drag photos around Word documents and grab elements like pie charts in
Excel.
The app will allow reading and presenting of documents for
free, but will require a subscription to Office365 to enable writing and
editing. A subscription for up to five computers and five smartphones
costs $100 a year, but a personal version for one computer and one
tablet costs $70 a year. The subscription includes 20 gigabytes of
storage space on OneDrive.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant
unveiled the app at an event in San Francisco where Satya Nadella
addressed reporters on his 52nd day as Microsoft Corp.’s chief
executive.
"This, in a sense, is a cloud for every person and every mobile device," Nadella said.
He
built on comments he has made previously that Microsoft will develop
key software for mobile devices regardless of whether they run on
Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android or Microsoft’s Windows operating system.
Thursday’s announcement follows Microsoft’s move earlier this month to
release a version of its OneNote note-taking software for Macs.
"There’s no tradeoff," Nadella said. "What motivates us is the realities of our
customers."
Daniel
Ives, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets, said the move to develop key
software products for Apple devices is a "great first step."
Microsoft
had previously resisted introducing Office for the iPad, preferring to
leverage the software suite as a key selling point of Windows 8 tablets
and its own line of Surface tablet computers. But those tablets have
struggled in the marketplace.
"They finally looked in the mirror
and realized they needed to go with the crowd in terms of iPads," Ives
said. "I think it signals there is change in Redmond, even if they
picked an insider."
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