Tablets don’t lend themselves to office editing in the way laptops do, however that hasn’t stopped iPad users longing for a Microsoft Office suite to satiate their productivity pangs. Finally it looks like one is en route with a leaked photo spotted on The Daily and picked up by SlashGear illustrating a smooth start-up screen with the option to open Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents.
Sporting a markedly Metro UI, the main options consist of tiles, probably live with block colours against a gradient backdrop. Delving in the app is extremely reminiscent of the OneNote application for the iPad according to The Daily after their hands-on with the app. This should ensure a consistent Microsoft user experience across platforms, and ironically enough tie this iPad app to the same visual theme that can be expected on Windows 8 tablets.
Microsoft apparently have no interest in releasing an Android version of the Office Suite with the Android Market currently teeming with third-party applications such as Documents to Go, Quick Office and Polaris installed on a number of key devices, all of which support Google Docs – a key threat to the big M.
Given the fact that a hands-on with the app has been given to the Daily, there’s every chance we could see it arrive in time to celebrate the release of the iPad 3. Still expected on March 7th, this time next month you could be on a train, efficiently thumbing through Excel spreadsheets on your 10.1-inch retina display using the Microsoft Office app pondering how pixelated and unproductive life used to be.
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