Office for iPad? Not Likely. [Updated]
If you’re hoping Microsoft might someday release a version of Office for Apple’s iPad, prepare to be disappointed. Though it’s been rumored that Microsoft is adapting the popular office suite for the iPad, the chances that it will actually release a compatible version of the software are slim at best, says Nomura Research analyst Rick Sherlund.
Why? Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? What better way to differentiate Windows 8 tablets from their rivals than by making them the only tablets that can run a touch-based version of Office?
“Don’t hold your breath for Office on the iPad,” Sherlund wrote in a research note to clients today. “If there were a tug of war of conflicting interest with the Office team on one end of the rope and Steve Sinofsky and Steve Ballmer on the other, we would expect there would be no Office on iPad anytime soon.”
Perhaps it’s time to resign ourselves to QuickOffice HD, OnLive Desktop and Apple’s iWork suite.
UPDATE: Looks like Microsoft may soon prove Sherlund wrong. The Daily, which claims to have had some hands-on time with Office for iPad, says Microsoft is preparing to submit the app to Apple.
