MS Office 2013 to be available on iPhone, iPad

By Kim Yoo-chul

U.S.-based computing giant Microsoft (MS) said its Office 2013 software will be available for Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating system this year.

``There are seven separate products in our updated Office 2013. Currently, two products _ a writing and a communication tool _ are available on Apple’s iOS mobile platform,’’ said MS Korea spokeswoman Lee Seung-yeon, Tuesday, during an event to unveil Office 2013 at the Grand InterContinental Hotel in downtown Seoul.

Expanding the Office to the iPhone and Google-powered mobile devices opens the software up to millions of new potential clients.

During the unveiling event, MS said Office, which is featured with enhanced Cloud integration, changes for Word, Excel and PowerPoint and Outlook, was designed to increase the firm’s share in businesses related to social networking services.

``One of the striking features for Office is a strengthened social networking function, mainly for corporate clients,’’ Lee said.

MS recently unveiled a commercial networking site, where small businesses can promote their products and services and interact with potential customers and partners primarily using Skype.

The site, called Skype in the Workspace (SITW) is expected to help MS bring in more revenue from entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses. MS bought Skype for $8.5 billion in October of last year and said from the start that it has big plans for it to launch various programs connected to the SITW system.