Larry Magid: Microsoft Brings Office To Apple's iPad
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – Microsoft made it official on Thursday, announcing that its popular Office suite software will be available for Apple's iPad.
The app is now available for download in the App Store, and will include programs such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
The software giant unveiled the app at an event in San Francisco on Thursday. It corrects layout problems users had experienced when accessing files they had saved on Microsoft's cloud storage platform OneDrive The app also has touch-enabled features that allow users to drag photos around Word documents and grab elements like pie charts in Excel.
The app is free to download, but Microsoft does require a subscription to Office 365 before users will be able to edit or create a document.
The software has been a long time coming, but for years, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer refused to adapt Office to run on newer platforms from Apple and Google. New CEO Satya Nadella, who addressed reporters at the San Francisco event, said the goal is to "empower people to be productive," and said Microsoft Office for Apple and Google devices is still in the early stages.
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