Microsoft Office is tremendously successful on mobile devices. Several Office applications have over 1 billion installs on Android, and Microsoft’s Office suite is also popular on iOS. In the future, there could be an addition to the Office lineup, a unified Office application on iOS.
A new report from ZDNet states that a unified Office Mobile app will come to iOS devices in the future. Microsoft has a similar Office Mobile application that comes preloaded on the Galaxy Note 10.
Microsoft Office Mobile is a lightweight application that lets you view, edit, and share files from Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Here’s everything you need to know about the new Office Mobile app for iOs. Here’s everything you need to know.
To make your life easier
The Office Mobile app isn’t meant to replace the fully-powered dedicated Office apps. Instead, it creates a simple space to make edits and view and share files.
Mary Jo Foley has heard that an Apple-specific Office Mobile app will be coming to iOS devices, as well. Foley also speculates that the Office Mobile app could ship with the upcoming Surface Duo, or even potentially come to Windows 10.
In the works
Some Android users may already be somewhat familiar with this unified Office Mobile app. Samsung is bundling it with its Galaxy Note 10 smartphones, as part of its partnership with Microsoft.
Select Samsung devices can also install it from the Galaxy Store, but it’s not currently on the Play Store for everyone to download.
More than ever for your convenience
According to the app’s description, it offers the complete Word, PowerPoint, and Excel apps to offer a convenient office experience on the go, but you can also pay for Office 365 and download the separate apps for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint to get more advanced features.
Based on the report, this model would be replicated for the iOS version of the app. Foley also suggests that Microsoft may ditch the Samsung exclusivity when it launches the Surface Duo late next year, with the unified app possibly being included with the device.
What about Windows?
As for Windows, the plans aren’t all that clear. The Office Mobile apps on the Microsoft Store seem to be in maintenance mode since Microsoft is focusing on the Win32 apps.
There’s a relatively recent Office app for Windows 10, but it essentially serves as a launchpad for the web versions of Microsoft’s Office apps, which are opened separately in a browser.
It’s unknown if more work will be done towards the unification of Office apps on Windows, but it’s possible we’ll hear more about it at this year’s Ignite. For now, Microsoft officials are not commenting about what’s next in this space.
