After years of speculation, rumors, and alternate apps, Microsoft officially announced its Office Suite will be available for Apple’s iPad.
Microsoft Office, which includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, will be available in the App Store on Thursday at 2 p.m. EST for free. However, with the basic app, users can only view existing documents. For more advanced options, users must subscribe to Office 365.
Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s new chief executive, announced the suite will cost $9.99 per month for Office 365 Home Premium and $6.99 per month for the upcoming Personal plan to create and edit documents. The Office Suite will be synced with the user’s SkyDrive account, so s/he can work on their documents or presentations on the go.
Microsoft Office Apps were the last to migrate to Apple products, leaving consumers to use alternate or similar apps. Apple users downloaded Lync, OneNote, and Yammer on the iPad. But Apple has its own office suite app, iWork. Will Microsoft Office and iWork now compete for optimal usage?