Microsoft is releasing updated versions of its Word, Excel and
PowerPoint apps for iPad and iPhones that make more of the core
functionality available for free.The new Office for iPad and iPhone apps will be available starting November 6 in the Apple App Store. The new Office for iPad apps will be available here. Word for iPhone, Excel for iPhone and PowerPoint for iPhone are available separately.
To date, without an Office 365 subscription, Office for iPad users could view documents, copy and paste between documents, share via attachments, and present using PowerPoint. To create new documents, edit and format them, save to OneDrive or SharePoint, they were required to pay for an Office 365 subscription.
Following many users' requests that the apps be made free, Microsoft is compromising and making more — but not all — of the core Office functionality free to consumers.
Users will be able to create and do more advanced editing of Office content without an Office 365 Home or Personal subscription starting today.
Business users will still need an Office 365 subscription to use features such as Excel pivot tables, PowerPoint presenter mode and customizations around color and design. And anyone who wants the unlimited OneDrive storage will still have to subscribe to Office 365 to get it.
CNET: Office for iOS goes freemium: What you need to know
On the iPhone front, Microsoft is dismantling the Office Mobile hub experience and replacing it with new standalone Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for iPhone. These iPhone Office apps have functional parity with the iPad versions, though the user interface is different, as the iPhone versions are tailored for a smartphone form factor.
On the iPhone, Microsoft has added a couple of new views meant to make navigating and editing Office documents easier. There's a new "Reflow" view for Word that eliminates the need for panning and scanning, as it temporarily enlarges and sizes documents to fit on the phone screen. And there's a similar "Full Screen" view in Excel for iPhone. These views won't be part of the iPad Office apps.
If you're among those consumers who subscribed to Office 365 because you wanted to be able to do more advanced editing and document creation, Microsoft will offer you a way to be credited for the price you paid for your Office 365 subscription. (I'll add a link to this post with the details once I receive it from Microsoft.)
The new Office for iPad and Office for iPhone apps are available beginning today in 29 languages and 136 countries. The apps require an iPad or iPhone running iOS 7.0 or later.
