smartphone-497304_640Microsoft continues its plans for expanding its Microsoft Office reach with the announcement that it has redesigned Office for iOS and is releasing new versions for both the iPhone and iPad. In addition, it seems Microsoft is finally giving Android a go, and has released a preview of Microsoft Office for Android as well. This announcement is yet another in a long stream of announcements that show Microsoft shifting its focus and embracing competing technologies as they work to grow their dominance in the business market to heights greater than they ever have before.

What Devices Are Compatible
While Microsoft will undoubtedly bring availability to the largest number of devices possible, currently there are a few limitations. For iPhone and iPad users, your device must be running iOS 7 or later in order to install Office. Requirements are a little more limiting for Android users as the software is only available for preview at the moment. Screen sizes ranging from 7 inches to 10.1 inches are required of Android devices and the preview is only available to users running KitKat. Users running the latest version of Android, Lollipop, are not included and users must avoid any OS updates while using the preview.

Office On All Devices
Microsoft has faced tough competition in the mobile markets for quite some time with many new Office based apps cropping up on the app stores of all the major mobile players including both Android and iOS. As more and more people become accustomed to these new apps, Microsoft will find itself at risk. Creating new apps is Microsoft's first step toward ensuring its dominance in the market. "This is about ensuring a pervasive Office platform across every device," Wes Miller, a senior analyst at Directions for Microsoft, commented.

With the many new Office apps cropping up across app stores everywhere, Microsoft is indeed under pressure to deliver a full Office experience across all devices. "The more people get used to other products, the more at risk Microsoft is," Enderle pointed out. "If they can keep users on Office, those users are less likely to change because they won't want to learn different interfaces."

Scaleable Design
One of the biggest concerns many users have is how effectively can an Office product be used on a handheld device like the iPhone. With so much information to cram into the small screen sizes of the smartphones, can Microsoft manage to create a way to give users full access to the vast array of tools included in Office without making it cumbersome to use? "Microsoft is doing the leading work on scaling apps up and down, and changing the interface dynamically when required," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told the E-Commerce Times.

The old Microsoft Office apps available on the iTunes Store were definitely beginning to feel a bit dated, making the release of updated versions a welcome one to iPhone and iPad users everywhere. With the Redmond tech giant working to bring its suite of applications to the Android platform as well, Microsoft has signaled its belief that these systems are here to stay, and recognizes that in order to stay relevant, they must embrace these platforms and bring their leading products along to them.