Microsoft's Office software package is coming to the iPhone for the first time Friday, offering people the ability to read and edit their text documents, spreadsheets and slide presentations at the doctor's office or at a soccer game.
(read ahead for more details ......)
The company ,sadly, isn't making an iPad version, though, nor is it offering the app on Android devices. Microsoft Corp. is treading a fine line as it tries to make its $100-a-year Office subscription more compelling, without removing an advantage that tablet computers running Microsoft's Windows system now have - the ability to run popular Office programs such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Office Mobile for iPhone is available free through Apple's app store, but an Office 365 subscription is required to use it. That subscription lets you use Office on up to five Mac and Windows computers for the annual fee. A subscription can be more expensive than buying the package outright for just one or two computers, but the iPhone version won't be sold separately for those who resist the recurring fee.
From the release notes:
Make quick edits and share:
* Edit - You can make quick edits to Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
* Documents Remain Intact - Formatting and content remain intact when you edit Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents on your phone.
* Edit While Offline - Your device doesn’t have to be continuously connected to the network to work on an Office document that is stored online. You can view and edit recently used documents even while you’re offline. Your changes will be saved online when your device reconnects to the network or to Wi-Fi.
* Create – You can create new Word and Excel documents on your phone.
* Comments - You can review comments that have been made in Word and Excel documents on your phone and add your own comments.
* Share - When you’re done with your edits or comments, simply send the document in email or save it to SkyDrive or SharePoint.
Microsoft has been pushing subscriptions as a way to get customers to keep paying for a product that has historically been sold in a single purchase. The company touts such benefits as the ability to run the package on multiple computers and get updates for free on a regular basis. Microsoft said it wants to give customers yet another reason to embrace subscriptions by offering Office on the iPhone only with a subscription.
People with Office 365 subscriptions will be able to run the new app on up to five iPhones, in addition to the five Mac or
Windows computers. People in the United States will be able to get it from Apple's app store Friday. Availability in other countries will follow in the coming days.
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