Microsoft is working on a version of its popular Office suite for its rival Android and iOS platforms, according to a new report, but it apparently won’t be ready until 2014.
The news comes via ZDNET’s Mary Jo Foley, who says she acquired ‘what appears to me to be a real roadmap’ of Microsoft’s plans from an unnamed trusted source. The story goes that Microsoft is preparing a ‘wave’ of Office updates as part of a strategy codenamed ‘Gemini’ – this is the strategy detailed in the roadmap.
‘Gemini wave 1.0’, taking place in October 2013, will see Microsoft pushing its Windows Blue updates for its Metro interface and Windows Store for its main set of Office products on its own platforms. This will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, allegedly these will become even more refined for touch control, but they’re not going to replace the desktop versions.
Wave 1.5 will occur in April 2014 and as well as updating the Apple Mac version of its software Microsoft will update the suite on Windows Phone and release something called ‘Office RT’ too. Foley speculates that Office RT could be an enhancement of the existing Windows desktop apps on Windows RT following the more Metro focused update in wave 1.0. Outlook RT apparently won’t be updated until October 2014.
That October date for next year is wave 2.0, and is also when the iOS and Android software versions will apparently appear.
Previous rumours have pointed to both Android and iOS versions of Microsoft’s suite, although much of the earlier claims have been based on Office for the iPad. It’s worth mentioning the leaked roadmap doesn’t specifically mention the software will be tablet only, suggesting it may also be available on the iPhone and Android smartphones.
Microsoft has consistently refused to talk about rumours surrounding development of these apps, but has not actually denied them at any point.
by pbriden via Featured Articles
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