Microsoft Still Hoping to Bring Office to iPhone?

This would be great! I hope Apple approves it.

Nice! Now to bring my HW assignments to print on campus, I can copy them to my iPhone through the USB, proofread and correct any errors during my commute, then print the final version when I arrive!

Oh yeah, you can't sync files over the USB. No bother, I'll just use AirSharing to get them on. Oh yeah, an MS Office app wouldn't be able to access AirSharing's files. Hrm, well I can just email them to myself, then email myself a second time if I need to!

Oh wait...

comments made by Stephen Elop, President of Microsoft's Business Division, at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco that suggest that Microsoft is still exploring ways to bring its Office suite of applications to the iPhone.

I assume this means viewers or simple editors. I doubt anybody who want to do serious Office work on their iPhones. That said, Mail can already view PDFs and .doc (and I think .xls?) so ... I'm a bit lost here. Can someone explain the significance of this? Is it just Microsoft showing additional iPhone interest?

While this is intriguing, I am not getting my hopes up. It would have to be pretty full-featured and/or really cheap for me to buy it. I guess Excel and Powerpoint might be nice, but I believe the iPhone can already read most if not all office-related files, and I just don't see that much of a market for mobile document composing beyond what can already be done with other (sometimes free) apps.

This would be great! I hope Apple approves it.

If it were to be created, I see no reason whatsoever for Apple to not approve it. They get 30% of the revenue, why not?

Oh yeah, an MS Office app wouldn't be able to access AirSharing's files.

I forget which of the many file sharing apps on the iPhones has which features, but besides Bonjour you can always view a mini-website on your iPhone that has access to your files. I forget if AirSharing has this feature but I know one of the many other apps does and that's fairly universal - hell, I think it even works on Edge/3G (although your IP address is on some AT&T subnet).

Apple should probably jump in and get iWork on the darn phone already. What is taking them so long!

Apple should probably jump in and get iWork on the darn phone already. What is taking them so long!

Who said that they haven't?

Office used to be a key strategic part of windows mobile. The ability to have apps on your mobile device that you're used to from your desktop machine. It is a testament to the utter failure of Microsoft's mobile strategy that Microsoft no longer believes keeping Office from the iPhone to be of net economic benefit to the company.

I hate to be a party crasher, but... I'm against this. If Microsoft does make an iPhone version of Office I will stay away. My reasons are simple: Office on Mac OS (and on Windows) is bloated with features that most people never use, and it's extremely buggy as well.

Ah, irony.

^^^ Ah come on. It was funny. :p

If it were to be created, I see no reason whatsoever for Apple to not approve it. They get 30% of the revenue, why not?

I agree with your reasoning, but it's Apple, so you never know. :o


They may be hoping to create their own iWorks app for the iPhone and sell it for more money than most other apps at the App store, say $30, and Microsoft's introduction of Office on the iPhone may cut into that profit considerably. I know that if I had a choice, I'd choose Office. Why would I need Pages on my iPhone? Or Numbers? ;) MS Word on the iPhone is the killer app, not anything else offered by MS's Office suite, or iWorks.