Nearly a year after launching Office Mobile for the iPhone, Microsoft has released Office for iPad, which brings Word, Excel and PowerPoint – but not Outlook – to any iPad running iOS 7.0 or later. Office for iPad lets you view, edit and create documents on your own or with others, and lets you work back and forth between your tablet and desktop. It’s not a perfect experience, though; the apps are only compatible with Microsoft’s OneDrive, which means no access to Google Drive or Dropbox. Then, there’s the cost. The free download of Office for iPad lets you read Word documents, work with Excel data and present PowerPoint presentations. But to do anything more than that, you’ll need an Office 365 subscription, which starts at $99 per year. If you’re already an Office 365 subscriber, Office for iPad is a no-brainer. For everyone else? It depends on how much you’ll use the mobile apps. If you want to try it out – or get the full version – Office for iPad is available in the App Store today.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.