Ballmer: Office for iPad Is Real, Just Waiting for Windows 8 Touch Version

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By Pete Pachal2013-10-09 14:47:57 UTC

Steve Ballmer confirmed that Microsoft is working on a version of Office 365 for the iPad, but it won't be available until after the suite of productivity applications is retooled for the modern user interface in Windows 8.

The Microsoft CEO shared the news while on stage at the Gartner Symposium in Orlando, Fla. Ballmer spoke about many topics, many of them related to Microsoft's Windows platform and the company's process of retooling its software and services with a "common programming interface," CNET reported.

On the topic of other platforms, Ballmer said that the "iPad will be picked up when there's a touch-first user interface. That's in progress for Office."

Although the most recent version of Microsoft Office was designed with Windows 8 in mind, it's doesn't run in the touch-first environment of the modern UI as, say, Evernote does. As Ballmer's comments reflect, Microsoft is developing a version of Office that runs in the new UI, although there's no indication so far of when it will be ready. New versions of Office are typically released every 3 to 4 years.

When Microsoft debuted Office 365 Home Premium in early 2013, P.J. Hough, Microsoft's vice president of Office program management, explained to Mashable why it wasn't a Windows 8 app: "Let's just say our apps were not naturally touch applications. How do you integrate with the new features of the operating system — the charms, for example? How do you take advantage of the new navigation? Over time, we will have to re-engineer the Office products — re-imagine them in new ways."

Rumors about an iPad version of Microsoft Office have circulated for years, but the reached a fever pitch in early 2012 when the now-defunct iPad publication The Daily published photos of what looked like an iPad running the app. While the app was never released, Microsoft did eventually release a version of Office for iPhone.

The iPhone version, however, carries a stripped-down feature set of the main Office apps, with fewer abilities than even Google Docs. There are many alternatives to Microsoft Office on iOS devices, however, from Apple's iWork to Google-owned QuickOffice. iPad users can also access the Office 365 web apps through a browser.

Are you interested in a native iPad version of Office? If so, how long are you willing to wait for it? Share your thoughts in the comments.