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At the moment, the online Office cloud supports desktop and smartphone, but not on tablets, which is illogical to me. May be they are waiting for the right time to launch it...

(not vested, but a cloud office subscriber)

Microsoft soars on Office-for-iPad report
19 Mar 2014 06:17
Microsoft Corp's shares scaled levels last seen in the dotcom boom on Tuesday following reports that the company plans to unveil an iPad version of its Office software suite, potentially generating billions of dollars in revenue.

Reuters reported on Monday that Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella would unveil the iPad app at an event on March 27 as part of the new CEO's "mobile first cloud first" strategy.
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Ref: Business Times Breaking News

The classic strategy of "can't beat it, join it"? I am optimistic on the new strategy...

(not vested)

Microsoft’s new CEO may come out swinging

SEATTLE — Mr Satya Nadella, the Indian-born self-described cricket fanatic who took over as Microsoft’s chief executive last month, makes his public debut tomorrow (March 27) and is expected to go on the offensive right away with some bold strokes.

When Mr Nadella hosts his first major press conference this week, he is likely to describe — if not officially launch — versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint designed for Apple’s iPad, looking to cash in on a market worth up to US$7 billion (S$8.9 billion) a year, according to Wall Street analysts.

The technology behind the software is not ground-breaking, but the strategy is: It puts Office at the heart of the company’s push to become a leading services company across a variety of platforms — possibly at the expense of Windows and its own Surface tablet.

That perceived willingness to break with the Windows tradition, which remains co-founder Bill Gates’ most enduring legacy, has helped spur Microsoft shares to US$40-plus levels not seen since the dotcom boom of 2000.

Wall Street is now guardedly optimistic on a company that, while still garnering billions of dollars in annual profit, risks gradual obsolescence in a mobile-powered tech industry.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/microsof...t-swinging

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2014/03/...fice-ipad/

Microsoft launches Office for iPad: Includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint but requires subscription for editing

EMIL PROTALINSKI
13 hours ago

At an event in San Francisco today, Microsoft Office General Manager Julia White unveiled Office for iPad, featuring Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The new apps, which supports viewing but not editing for free, will go live in Apple’s App Store at 11:00AM PDT (2:00PM EST).

Update: You can download them now right here: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Also, today wasn’t just about the iPad: Office for iPhone and Android phones is now completely free, Android tablet version coming ‘in the future’.

Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all have a ribbon interface just like the one in Office for Windows and OS X. The trio of apps are much more powerful on the tablet than the smartphone, but naturally don’t compare to the desktop versions.

The apps lets you store documents on the iPad itself, but you can also save them to OneDrive. This means you can retrieve your files across all devices where Microsoft Office is available.

The highly-anticipated suite has been a long-time coming. While Microsoft offers OneNote for iPad, all other apps in its productivity suite have yet to grace Apple’s tablets, until now.

[Image: IMAGE-03_OfficeHeroPortrait_iPad_Slvr.png]

Microsoft also offers Office Mobile for iOS, but that requires a subscription (Update: not anymore) and is only available for the iPhone. The company launched the app in June 2013, but wouldn’t discuss when an iPad version would be available.

The iPad version of these apps is free to download and view documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Once you want to edit documents, however, a paid subscription to Office 365 is required.

[Image: IMAGE-02_PPTHero_iPad_Slvr.png]

In fact, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella promised that the company will be pushing Office 365 across all platforms. “Our commitment going forward is to make sure that we drive Office 365 everywhere,” he said. “So that means across the Web, across all phones, across all tablets, across PCs. That’s our real commitment to Office 365 everywhere.”

The Office 365 Home Premium subscription costs $99 per year, or $10 per month. A cheaper subscription (Office 365 Personal) has been announced, but it’s not available just yet.

The newly onboard CEO is daring...

Microsoft to offer Windows for free on phones, tablets

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft is to give away its Windows operating system to makers of smartphones and small tablets for consumers as it seeks to make more of an impact on those fast-growing markets and counter the massive success of Google’s free Android platform.

Microsoft’s move, announced at its annual developers conference in San Francisco, is an attempt to broaden the small user base of mobile versions of Windows, in the hope that more customers will end up using Microsoft’s money-making, cloud-based services such as Skype and Office.

Up to now, Microsoft has charged phone and tablet makers between US$5 (S$6.40) and US$15 per device to use its Windows system, as it has done successfully at higher prices for many years with Windows on personal computers. Hardware makers factor the cost of that into the sale price of each device.

That model has been obliterated in the past few years by the fast adoption of Google’s Android system for phones and tablets, which hardware makers quickly embraced and now accounts for more than 75 per cent of all smartphones sold last year. Apple’s iPhone and iPad account for most of the rest of the mobile computing market.

By contrast, Windows-powered phones held only 3 per cent of the global smartphone market last year. Windows tablets have only about 2 per cent of the tablet market, according to tech research firm Gartner.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/microsof...es-tablets

Competition on tablet intensifying with MS participation...

Microsoft to launch Surface Mini this year

WASHINGTON — Microsoft is reported to be preparing to launch the seven- to-eight-inch Surface Mini tablet, focusing on functionality and brief note-taking rather than extensive work.

Technology blog Neowin has suggested that the device is likely to support a pen function with greater accuracy than a traditional stylus, feature a significantly upgraded version of OneNote and go on sale by the middle of this year.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/microsof...-mini-year

Update on the Nokia-Microsoft deal...

Nokia says India plant unlikely to be part of Microsoft deal

NEW DELHI – Nokia said that due to an ongoing tax dispute its Indian mobile phone handset plant was unlikely to be included in a deal due to be concluded on Friday for the sale of its global handset business to Microsoft.

Nokia will instead operate the factory as a contract manufacturing unit for Microsoft after the deal, a spokeswoman for the Finnish company’s Indian unit said on Thursday.
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http://www.todayonline.com/business/noki...osoft-deal

We will see a MS without Bill Gate in a few years time...

Bill Gates on track to own no Microsoft stock in four years

SEATTLE — Mr Bill Gates, the former chief executive and chairman of Microsoft, will have no direct ownership in the company he co-founded by mid-2018 if he keeps up his recent share sales.

Mr Gates, who started the company that revolutionised personal computing with school-friend Paul Allen in 1975, has sold 20 million shares each quarter for most of the last dozen years under a pre-set trading plan.

Assuming no change to that pattern, Mr Gates will have no direct ownership of Microsoft shares at all four years from now.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/bill-gat...four-years

The first major challenge for the new CEO...

China bans use of Windows 8 on government computers

BEIJING — China has banned government use of Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest operating system (OS), in a blow to the United States technology company which has long been plagued by sales woes in the country.

The Central Government Procurement Centre issued the ban on installing Windows 8 on government computers as part of a notice on the use of energy-saving products, posted on its website last week.

The official Xinhua news agency said the ban was to ensure computer security after Microsoft ended support for its Windows XP operating system, which was widely used in China.

Neither the government nor Xinhua elaborated on how the ban supported the use of energy-saving products, or how it ensured security.

China has long been a troublesome market for Microsoft. Former CEO Steve Ballmer reportedly told employees in 2011 that, because of piracy, Microsoft earned less revenue in China than in the Netherlands even though computer sales matched those of the US.

Microsoft declined to comment.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/china-ba...-computers

Technology make an interesting life. I am not sure how reliable it is...

Microsoft shows off real-time Skype translator

RANCHO PALOS VERDES (California) – Microsoft showed off a test version of a real-time, spoken-word translation service for Skype calls yesterday (May 27), the first time the world’s largest software company has demonstrated the breakthrough technology publicly in the United States.

Skype Translator, as it is currently called, allows speakers in different languages to hear the other’s words spoken in their own language, according to a demo introduced by Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella at the Code Conference technology gathering in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/microsof...translator

A typical restructuring corporate action after an M&A, and new CEO on board...

(not vested)

Microsoft set to announce biggest round of job cuts

SEATTLE — Microsoft is planning its biggest round of job cuts in five years, as the software maker looks to slim down and integrate Nokia’s handset unit, sources have said.

The reductions — which may be unveiled this week — will probably affect Nokia and divisions of Microsoft that overlap with that business, as well as marketing and engineering, said the sources.

The restructuring may end up being the biggest in Microsoft history, topping the 5,800 jobs cut in 2009, although some details are still being worked out, the sources added.
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http://www.todayonline.com/tech/microsof...d-job-cuts