Is Office for iPad a fair fit for you? We go hands-on and answer seven key inquiries to enable you to decide.

Microsoft Office for iPad arrived this week, two years overdue, and with millions of tablet users already entrenched in Google Docs, iWork, and other alternatives. But now that the desktop era’s top productivity software has finally landed at the world’s preferable mobile device, here’s the worst thing i’m able to say: Office for iPad is the most convenient tablet work software to this point.  

No, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for iPad aren’t perfect. Wish to use the hot apps to print a document? Too bad. You want to edit documents without signing up for Office 365? Sorry, you will have to use Office Online, the browser-based version.

Office for iPad won’t change the market. The apps might set the quality of their category, but it is not clear what number of people care about that category firstly.

For millions of pro users, Office for iPad is a no-brainer. Office 365 subscriptions were already growing rapidly, and the hot apps only sweeten the offer. Road warriors depend on iPads to study and annotate documents at the go. With native Office apps, they now can accomplish that with not just perfect file fidelity, but additionally a variety of tools and robust cloud support.

For consumers the outlook is murkier. Had Office been available to iPad users at an inexpensive cost back in 2011, competing products might never have gained traction. Will people that do only light work care about Office’s most sophisticated features? Will they accept recurring Office 365 costs when such a lot of viable options are free?

Some people is perhaps won over. I wrote parts of this text using Word on a non-Retina iPad Mini — and it was easier than I’d anticipated. i started the tale while crammed right into a crowded train. Using OneDrive, I picked it up seamlessly on my PC when I got back to my desk.

But am I about to adhere my laptops in a drawer and rely totally on my iPad? Hell, no.

Typing on glass simply isn’t as fast and accurate as typing on an entire keyboard. There is a reason iPad commercials show people using their devices to photograph epic waterfalls on the top of the realm, not writing the subsequent great work of literature. In a pinch, could i take advantage of Office at the iPad to create documents? Absolutely. Would doing so be preferable to other methods? No.

When modifying or reviewing document, though, the apps are outstanding. i can not see a student composing a whole essay on an iPad, but i will imagine a professor using an iPad to annotate essays and supply feedback. And for some layout work, the touch interface is exceptional. In case you press on an image in a Word document and start moving the picture, surrounding text adjusts dynamically. It’s an intuitive and pleasing experience that makes it possible to shine a presentation while walking between meetings.

Office for iPad represents a significant shift in Microsoft’s strategy. When new CEO Satya Nadella introduced the apps, he repeatedly said they’ll help users “do more” — a slogan borrowed from the Ballmer era. But under the former regime, nobody at Microsoft would have ever suggested people should “do more” on an iPad. Ballmer famously claimed that his children were forbidden from using Apple products, but during Thursday’s press conference, Microsoft employees talked openly about owning iPads.

For his part, Nadella claimed Microsoft held nothing back in creating products. He said the corporate is targeted on delivering the correct user experience possible on all platforms. In comparison to the Windows jingoism of yesteryear, here is anathema. It raises obvious questions on Microsoft’s device strategy, and the way Windows will remain relevant because the cloud becomes the nexus of the software world. Nadella confidently promised to deliver answers to those questions next week, when the corporate will host Build, its conference for developers.

Despite these uncertainties, Office for iPad is the crème de la crème in its genre. The apps generated immediate interest, a minimum of of their cost-free form. By Friday, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint occupied the tip three spots among free apps within the iPad’s app store. Microsoft’s recently-introduced OneNote app was right behind them at number four.

What do the brand new apps offer? Read on for the answers to seven key questions on Microsoft’s Office for iPad.

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Michael Endler joined InformationWeek as an associate editor in 2012. He previously worked in talent representation within the entertainment industry, as a contract copywriter and photojournalist, and as a teacher. Michael earned a BA in English from Stanford University in 2005 … View Full Bio

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