Microsoft's productivity suite is now widely available for Android smartphones, making it easier for users to get quick drafts and edits done on their phone.
Tech giant Microsoft on Wednesday, June 24, released versions of its popular Word, Excel and PowerPoint programs for smartphones running on Google-backed Android software.
The apps are slated to hit shelves of Google's online Play Store in a bid to make Microsoft's applications accessible from a broad array of devices as services in the Internet cloud. Microsoft has apps tailored for use on Android-powered tablets and on Apple iPhones or iPads, according to reports on NDTV Gadgets.
In a blog post Microsoft Office team corporate vice president Kirk Koenigsbauer said, "I'm pleased to announce the general availability of the new Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for Android phone."
Citing feedback accumulated during a preview period inspired features such as making it simple to connect with digital file storage services Box and Google Drive, besides Microsoft's own OneDrive, according to Koenigsbauer.
The US software titan is hoping that more people will be inspired to subscribe to its online Office 365 service by having the applications on major platforms.
Microsoft announced a preview of the smartphone versions in May after first making its Office Suite available for Android tablets in February. The app look and work similar to the software designed for Apple's iPads and iPhones, allowing users to edit Word documents and wirelessly run PowerPoint presentations from their phone, CNet noted.
In order to use the software's desktop versions or unlock more features, an annual subscription to Office 365 is required. This part is CEO Satya Nadella's main idea for reinvigorating Microsoft's business software.
Microsoft is counting on people paying the fee for Office 365 in order to use the cloud versions of Outlook, Word and PowerPoint on theirs Macs or PCs. That's more attractive citing that employees shift activities between their corporate and personal devices.
Ebun Onagoruwa, a Microsoft product manager noted, "The goal of these apps is to make sure that as people think about working, creating and doing, they think of Office as the default."
Onagoruwa said this is the climactic stage of a nearly 18-month journey since the tech giant first offered Office for iPad, "transforming [Office] from a software suite into a platform that would work across devices."
