By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla
Microsoft Office is the one of the first software programs users install on their PCs and Macs. Since smartphones are the closest thing to pocket computers, there have been countless substitutes for Word, Excel and PowerPoint available for Android and iOS devices but most don't come close to the original, or fail to integrate seamlessly with the desktop and cloud version of Microsoft's bread and butter suite.
Microsoft Office is now available on Android for free if you have an existing Office 365 account but it is only for smartphones and not for tablets where it would be far more useful.
Yay to Microsoft for extending Office to the iPhone and to Android smartphones but if you're wondering why they have stopped short of offering arguably the most used software suite in history on tablets, the answer is Surface.
Microsoft's own Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets can run a full tabletized-version of Office. It is the reason I purchased a Surface RT, to use Word, which comes free together with PowerPoint and Excel as well as the stellar OneNote application.
Office on tablets is a Surface RT exclusive and for as long as that device exists in the market, it is doubtful that we'll see Office be made available to non-Windows tablets anytime soon.
Here's what gets me. I really believe that if Microsoft were to sell Microsoft Office for iOS and for Android as a standalone app package, they would rake in more profit than they currently make on the Surface RT and maybe even the Surface Pro. Be it by subscription or as a standalone product, I really believe most tablet users won't think twice about paying to have the Office suite accessible on their tablets.
So the good news for Android users who have exisitng Office 365 subscriptions is that they can get Microsoft Office right now for free.
Subscribers will get the official Office companion optimized for your Android phone. You can access, view and edit your Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint documents from virtually anywhere. Documents look like the originals, thanks to support for charts, animations, SmartArt graphics and shapes. When you make quick edits or add comments to a document, the formatting and content remain intact. It is available on Google Play.