Microsoft Office Mobile, which was once considered to be a rumored product for mobile devices since February, is now ready to go live. Per reports, the Microsoft Office Mobile is in fact a reality and is set to make its presence felt to iOS and Android owners.
Although the Microsoft Office Mobile is now set for a spring release next year, the app has been in contention for a long time. While previously not much was known about the app, apart from various rumors surrounding it, the office Mobile is now a reality with a fixed release date.
The Verge was the first to disclose the new details regarding Office Mobile, which it learned via several reliable sources, and revealed that Microsoft will indeed release Office versions for Android and iOS in early 2013.
The Verge report states that the Office Mobile "will debut in the form of free apps that allow Android and iOS users to view Microsoft Office documents on the move." Much like the existing SkyDrive and OneNote apps, the new Office Mobile will require a Microsoft account.
The report further notes that on launch, a Microsoft account "will provide access to the basic viewing functionality in the apps. Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents will all be supported, and edit functionality can be enabled with an Office 365 subscription."
It has also been revealed that Microsoft is set to allow iOS users to purchase a copy of Office 365 subscription within the app, or let interested organizations distribute codes to enable Office Mobile editing for users. As far as the app's functionality is concerned, it will allow for basic editing, but the Web site has been told that this won't make any attempt to replace standard full use of a desktop Office version.
This news is the latest information regarding the Office Mobile, after Microsoft's product manager Petr Bobek (in October) confirmed that the Redmond-based software giant is planning to release native iOS and Android versions of Office 2013 next year.
At that time, speaking about the product at a press event in the Czech Republic, Bobek assured that the Office 2013 app will arrive on Google's Android and Apple's iOS next year in March. Bobek also stated that in addition to Windows, Microsoft Office will also be available on other operating systems like Windows Phone, Windows RT, Mac OS, Android, iOS, and Symbian.
However, the information passed on by Bobek was later tagged as void by the company, and Microsoft released a new statement that read, "The information shared by our Czech subsidiary is not accurate. We do not have anything further to share at this time."
