One of the most called for apps of recent times, new details have suggested that the long awaited Office for iOS and Android offerings will not be launched until 2014.
Repeatedly mooted as being on the verge of launch, latest reports have cited a leaked Office roadmap in suggesting Microsoft will not bring its suite of globally dominant Office software, including Word, Excel and Powerpoint to Apple and Android powered tablets, such as the iPad mini and Google Nexus 7 until ‘fall 2014’.
A delay that will surely see the Office software miss the tablet boom and fall behind a growing number of already available rivals, such as Apple’s Pages and Keynote software, the iOS and Android release is expected to follow a selection of PC based updates over the coming year.
According to the leaked roadmap reportedly seen by ZDnet, Microsoft will roll out a three phase Office update in the coming months, with the first this October to see Windows Blue app updates introduced.
Suggesting that the Microsoft Office iOS and Android apps might have been pushed back from a previously planned 2013 arrival, the latest reports have suggested that previously, “a number of Microsoft watches heard from our various sources that these apps were on track to be delivered by early to mid-2013.”
They added: “Rumours about Microsoft’s plans to deliver Office for iOS and Android have been circulating for more than a year. Microsoft officials have never outright denied these apps were in development.”
As well as the seemingly delayed, Office for iOS and Android apps, the leaked roadmap has suggested that Microsoft’s trio of ‘Gemini’ updates will see Mac support updated early next year, the platform’s first Office refresh since 2011.
