Different sources indicate that the next March 27 Microsoft CEO will unveil the Office app for iPad during a press conference. This event will take place in San Francisco and its theme will be the interaction between the cloud and mobile computers. Satya Nadella he will take the floor first, which will be his first major public appearance.
This press conference will arrive only a few days before BUILD 2014 starts, Microsoft's developer conference, so the level of strangeness goes up.
The information comes from Marie Jo Foley, the veteran ZDNET journalist who is an expert on Microsoft affairs. This information was later confirmed by Reuters and its sources, so that, at priori, we have more than reliable indications.
The application would bring a good part of the Redmond office suite with Word, Excel, Power Point and OneNote. Although it can be downloaded for free from the Apple Store, it will require a Office 365 subscription, in the same way that it is now required on iPhone and Android smartphones.
The existence of this product was already known for a few weeks, but it seems that the presentation has been advanced. It could be an intrusive strategy in Apple's domains. This same week OneNote for Mac was presented. Evernote's rival is thus already present on iOS tablets and phones, giving arguments to break that false purism of some radicals who bet on having everything from Apple or everything from Microsoft.
Office for iPad, the first touch Office for tablets
Either way, this early arrival would mean that the touch version of Office would debut earlier on the iPad than on the Surface and all other Windows 8.1 tablets. This paradox is difficult to assimilate. The project Gemini to bring the office suite to the Metro interface but it doesn't seem like it will be ready until the second half of 2014. Ballmer, former CEO, dropped that Office for iPad, Miramar, it would arrive a little after that, reason why the pools pointed to autumn.
What is clear is that it seems that something has changed with the arrival of Nadella and you are betting on an openness that seeks to make Microsoft's services more universal, thus promoting the platform.