Microsoft Reportedly 'Actively Working' on Office for iPad and Mac App Store

office 2011 icons
The Daily reports that Microsoft is "actively working" on bringing its Microsoft Office suite to the iPad, looking to take on Apple's iWork applications for the popular tablet device. The report also says that Microsoft is working on a updated Office for Mac suite, with the new version said to be targeted for a Mac App Store release sometime next year.

According to sources, the tech giant is actively working on adapting its popular software suite for Apple’s tablet. With the iPad making up over 80 percent of the tablet market and millions of people worldwide using Office, that could mean big bucks for the tech giant based in Redmond, Wash.

In addition to an iPad-ready version, a new edition of Office is expected for OS X Lion sometime next year. The current version of the desktop package, Office 2011, officially supports [Mac OS X] versions up to Snow Leopard. A Lion version, likely available via the Mac App Store, is widely expected.

Microsoft acknowledged just after the iPad's introduction in early 2010 that the company was "looking at" the possibility of bringing Office to the iPad, but by the time the device actually launched a few months later the company was saying that it had "no current plans" for such an offering.

Popular Stories

iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iOS 26 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

Top Rated Comments

w00master Avatar
177 months ago
I was supposed to read the logos as, "WHO?" right?

What's the advantage of this over iWork though? I'm asking from an ignorant standpoint. I really don't know.

Why does MS Office necessarily need to have an "advantage?" Isn't more 3rd party support for iPad (and iOS overall) good? I think it is.


Then again, this is a news report on Microsoft on an Apple site... I shouldn't be surprised for the start of negative feedback. :rolleyes:

Aren't you guys tired of this PC vs. Mac stuff? I am. Let's move on.

w00master
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
firestarter Avatar
177 months ago
I've never really liked Word - but Excel absolutely blows Numbers away. It would be great if Office was 'unbundled' so that each app could be bought cheaper on the App store. An iPad version would be awesome too!
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Bigsk8r Avatar
177 months ago
...but Excel absolutely blows Numbers away.

Amen!!

I gave iWork and honest, 3 month, all out usage... I even removed all MS from my MacBook Pro to force myself to learn the Apple system. Keynote rocked (as good as PowerPoint), Pages was usable (almost as good as Word) and Numbers was a complete waste of time.

Even though I am a total Apple fanboy, I have to admit that there is only one intuitive, widely supported, easy to learn spreadsheet. It's name is MS Excel.

If Office comes to the iPad with 70%+ of the desktop versions features, it will sell big.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
laserbeam273 Avatar
177 months ago
Awesome! Go Microsoft!
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mkrishnan Avatar
177 months ago
I don't see any advantage. I could see it on a regular computer but not a tablet. There's only so much you can do with a spreadsheet on the iPad.
The big advantage in my mind of Office in general is that it's 100% compatible with Office. If my office used iWork (or LibreOffice), I would be happy never loading Office again, even though I actually really like some of it (Excel especially).

But I do agree -- these apps so far are a bit cumbersome on touch screen. Who knows. Maybe MS will come up with something interesting. Even if they didn't "surpass" the desktop experience but just inched closer to it, it would be a big improvement.

I also agree with the comments above that MS (like any other large software vendor) embracing Apple's app stores is good for consumers.

*cough* even consumers who just bought a certain competing product on Cyber Monday sale *cough*
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KPOM Avatar
177 months ago
This would be a good move by Microsoft. Quick Office, Pages, and Documents To Go all lack some features that are in the full Office, and while I don't expect Office for iPad to have everything in the Mac or Windows versions, it could have more than other iPad apps.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)