Office finally lands on iPhone / iPad

After many years of speculation about the possible arrival or not of Office on the iOS platformfrom Apple (iPhone, iPod touch and iPad) we confirm that they have finally announced the availability of Office for iOS with the bombastic name of Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers .

At the moment it is only available for US users but it is the big step that Microsoft needed to take on the mobile platform from Apple. This step was already taken years ago for OS X and the large iOS user base made this step necessary if the company wanted to take advantage of some of the growth in sales of Apple devices.

It is known as Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers and allows access to Office 365 users to view and edit any original Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Powerpoint file.

This arrival to iOS will make Office 365 users receive great added value since they will be able to edit Office files natively, with the same layout, colors, and images that were seen on the computer desktop.

This application makes use of the files stored in the cloud, either in SkyDrive, SkyDrive Pro or SharePoint and there is also a synchronization service, so the latest changes made to a file in a computer will be reflected in a recent documents panel.

Sync gets to the point that if the file is hosted on SkyDrive or SkyDrive Pro, it will take the user to the last page viewed the last time it was accessed, whatever the device from which that was accessed.

In addition to this, users will be able to open and edit any Office document attached to an email with this application, so it is not necessary to carry out the typical task of opening with another application and then exporting it again in format Office.

Presumably Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers will reach all other regions in a matter of days, but one thing is clear. Microsoft has already taken its first step in iOS.