News Corp.-owned The Daily reported this morning that Microsoft’s development team has apparently locked the code for Office on the iOS platform last month, followed by the design team’s approval of the user interface. The long expected office suite is now being tested, with Microsoft internally shooting for an October 10 release date, giving Redmond a five-month lead time to smooth out the rough edges…
According to Matt Hickey, writing for The Daily, the software is now being tested against Metro compliance:
We’ve learned that the development team within Office Mobile finished its work on the project last month, and the efforts of the design group wrapped soon after.
The app is now in the hands of a usability team that appraises software that utilizes the Metro design language for “Metro compliance” and suggests changes as needed.
When approved by the team, the app likely will go to Apple for app store approval, which could take a couple of weeks.
Boy Genius Report first mentioned the November release date a week ago, speculating Microsoft could bring Office to the iPhone and iPod touch as well “as we’re told the loading screen in the app clearly said ‘Office for iOS’ and not just iPad”.
AppleInsider also learned that Microsoft is developing a brand new iOS app called OWA Mobile Client, said to work in tandem with Outlook Web App to offer compatibility with Exchange 2012 mailboxes.
By the way, I think it’s kinda interesting that Office for iPad will borrow Metro design philosophy of Windows Phone and Windows 8 operating systems.
I wonder how that’ll be accepted by users on the iOS platform?