Microsoft makes Office for Mobile Free!

[Zoom7000]

More Office. Everywhere you need it.

Posted November 6, 2014 By John Case - Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Office

 

In March, we announced Office for the iPad®, a major step in commitment to bring Office to everyone, on every device and anywhere they need it. Since then, customers took to the App Store and downloaded Office for their iPads more than 40 million times and we’re delighted with the feedback we’ve received. Customers told us the apps are beautiful. They told us that they appreciated the familiar Office experience designed specifically for the iPad. And most importantly, they told us they wanted us to do more.

 

Since then, we’ve released native apps for OneNote, Lync, Yammer, OneDrive for Business and OWA for iOS and Android and we’ve continued our investment in the Mac platform with the release of Outlook for Mac and the Office for Mac beta scheduled for the first half of 2015.

 

Today we’re taking the next major step to bring Office to everyone, on every device, and I’m excited to announce that Office apps customers love are coming to Android tablets with the start of our Office for AndroidTM tablet Preview. We’re also delivering Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps for iPhone® and updates for the iPad apps–to ensure a consistently beautiful and productive Office experience on every device. Our vision of Office everywhere wouldn’t be complete without Windows, so I’m pleased to confirm that new, touch-optimized Office apps for Windows 10 are in the works and we’ll have more to share soon.

 

With Office on nearly every device, it’s incredibly important to us that customers have a consistent experience and the ability to do more–anywhere and everywhere. So, starting today, people can create and edit Office content on iPhones, iPads, and soon, Android tablets using Office apps without an Office 365 subscription.

 

Of course Office 365 subscribers will continue to benefit from the full Office experience across devices with advanced editing and collaboration capabilities, unlimited OneDrive storage, Dropbox integration and a number of other benefits.

 

I encourage you to download the new iPhone apps, update your iPad ones, sign up for the Android Preview and realize the full value of Office with a subscription.

 

Together with our customers and partners (thank you!) we’ve helped more than a billion people be more productive with Office and we’re committed to helping millions more.

 

For more details on the announcements we made today please visit our press release and the Office Blog.

 

Source: More Office. Everywhere you need it. - The Official Microsoft Blog

More Info: Office for Android tablets enters preview alongside new iPhone version | The Verge

[Arthur]

Just signed up for the Android tablet preview.

 

http://aka.ms/signupnow

 

^ Don't bother if your Android device runs Lollipop though.

 

To sign up for the preview, you need a Google account and a tablet between 7 and 10.1 inches in size that runs KitKat. Microsoft specifically says that it's "not seeking Android tablets running Lollipop," so if you're a Nexus user who wants to hop on the Android 5.0 train as soon as it arrives at the station you may need to hold off. Once you've provided Microsoft specific information about your tablet's size, make, and model, the site promises delivery of the beta within a week from today. (Source)

 

Businesses will still need an Office 365 subscription to use the new apps.

 

While consumers using Office mobile will be able to access the apps for free, Microsoft isn't extending this free functionality to businesses. An Office 365 subscription will be required to edit documents that are stored on OneDrive for Business or Dropbox for business, a clear sign of how Microsoft will continue to generate money from the thousands of businesses that rely on its productivity suite and cloud platform. (Source)

Edited November 7, 2014 by Arthur

[tj2419]

Given the changes hopefully coming in December with teachers getting office proplus free it should be ok. Good news for everyone else though.

 

http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/11/06/office-everywhere/

[jmak]

Given the changes hopefully coming in December with teachers getting office proplus free it should be ok. Good news for everyone else though.

 

http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/11/06/office-everywhere/

 

What's the free deal for teachers? Passed me by and can't see it in the link in your post?

 

Thanks

[woodham]

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/cloud-services/142411-office-365-proplus-free-staff-1st-dec-2014-a.html have a look here

[Arthur]

The Office Preview apps for Android tablets are now available for anyone to download from the Google Play Store.

 

Links: Word, Excel, PowerPoint

 

The Office for Android tablet preview expands

 

In November, we invited you to sign up for the Office for Android tablet preview. With such an overwhelmingly positive response from people around the world, we made it even easier for customers to download the preview apps by requesting access to the Google Plus community.

 

Over the last two months, we have heard from people all over the world who want the power of Office on their Android tablet. The feedback we’ve received through this initial phase of preview has helped us shape and optimize the Office experience for Android tablet users. Your feedback also helps us plan and prioritize future feature updates.

 

Today, we are excited to announce that we are further expanding the preview. We want more feedback from more users to ensure that Office apps work well on a range of different Android tablets before launching the official apps. To participate in the preview, you can use an ARM-based Android tablet running KitKat or Lollipop, with a screen size between 7″ and 10.1″. Starting today, anyone can go to Google Play and download the Word, Excel and PowerPoint preview apps. No waitlist. No requesting access. Just go and download the apps!

 

We hope you will join the preview and tell us what you think. Your feedback is critical in helping us deliver world-class Office applications to Android tablets. Download the Word, Excel and PowerPoint preview apps for your Android tablet today and tell us what you think in our Google Plus community.