When Microsoft Corp. brings Office to Apple’s mobile devices, will you switch to it from the productivity suite you’re already using?
Blogger Eric Eckel is looking forward to Microsoft Office being released on iOS, saying the productivity suite has become the defecto standard from large enterprises to residential users and across the spectrum. He says that in a cloud-centric world where users are juggling multiple devices and working on the same files using all of them, compatibility is the glue that makes it all work.
But a simple search for “Microsoft Office” in the app store today renders several worthy mobile productivity suites that are already compatible with Microsoft Word and work hand-in-hand with several different cloud storage vendors like Dropbox or Google Drive, and not just SkyDrive. Here’s just a few alternatives that are already available instead of Microsoft Office for iOS:
CloudOn
After creating an account, users can use this free app to create, open, and edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents on the iPhone and iPad. Users can connect cloud storage accounts from Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and SkyDrive. There’s also a built-in Adobe Reader and File Viewer for other image formats.
With free apps like Cloudon, is a Microsoft Office app needed? (Image: Cloudon)
Quickoffice Pro
The leading productivity suite on iPad, this app is also compatible with Microsoft Office documents and allows you to open and edit both and and new version of office files (such as .doc and .docx). Quickoffice also connects with cloud services and allows you to retrieve files from SharePoint. This firm was acquired by Google recently, presumably for close integration into its Android platform.
Documents To Go
DataViz Inc. has an app that allows you to create and edit Microsoft Office files in formats that existed from 2008 to present day. It also includes a PDF reader and a desktop app that you can install for free to wirelessly sync files between your device and your Mac or Windows PC. You can also manually transfer files via iTunes.
Tell us, what Office-compatible editor do you use on iOS? Will you be migrating to Microsoft’s official app when it comes out? Let us know in the comments section below.
