While a basic Office app from Microsoft was released for android phones a year back, the company is now developing a collection that is intended for android tablets. According to one report, the Office suite for Android tablets is expected to be released later this year, along with Microsoft Office for iPad.

Microsoft is preparing a private beta of the new software, and the company is currently accepting companies and individuals who are willing to participate in the pre-release phase of the application. The registration can be done over Microsoft's SharePoint site.

The iPad release of the Office app has been a material success for Microsoft. Although the company had some market doubt that the apps were too late to make an impact, or that consumers won't use them because of restrictions imposed on Office 365, Microsoft's latest venture into iOS did very well, and it is forecasted that Office on Android tablets could be as successful as well.

The expected features of MS Office for Android tablets includes fully touch-enabled interface, which is pretty much the same as the one on iPad. It was reported that the Office for Android will be launched first before the touch-ready version of Office for Windows, which is scheduled for early 2015 release.

Office now relies greatly on Microsoft's cloud storage service, which is the OneDrive. What will be fascinating to gauge is the market response to Office for Android, measuring if it can cope up with the response to the iOS suite. Microsoft had seen 27 million downloads of its iOS Office apps in just 46 days.

Microsoft's ideas underscore CEO Satya Nadella's efforts to concentrate the company around mobile and cloud services. In one of Nadella's tweets after his appearance at the Code Conference in May, he said, "We will not be bound to one app, one device, in one place." Microsoft is also prepping a new version of Office for Mac that will debut later this year.