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| Microsoft Office for iPad |
When Apple announced that its iWork suite would be bundled, free of charge, with new iOS and Mac devices, it seemingly slammed the door on Microsoft’s Office ambitions for the iPad. How could Microsoft bring its pricey Office suite into a world of free (and almost free) apps?
The answer: Outdo iWork in both form and function. Apple claims that products like its Pages are the most beautiful office software for iPad and other Apple devices. With Office for iPad, Microsoft has stolen that crown.
Microsoft’s Office for iPad is a collection of three apps: Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. (OneNote for the iPad has been available since 2011, and Microsoft's Lync, Skype, and Yammer are also available.) Users can download each, free of charge, from Apple’s iTunes on an iPad running iOS 7.0 or above. And each is free to use to view documents that have been created elsewhere.
But Office 365 also includes a subscription to OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage solution, a central repository from which one can withdraw and store documents. In a nice twist, you can connect both your personal OneDrive and OneDrive for Business accounts and connect to SharePoint as well. However, to create or edit documents, you must subscribe to Office 365: either Office 365 Home Premium ($9.99 per month), the upcoming Office 365 Personal ($6.99 per month), or one of several business options. Each Office 365 subscription includes at least one tablet subscription, which covers Office for iPad. // PCWorld
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