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Microsoft Office for iPad will be unveiled this month

Microsoft Office for iPad will be unveiled this month

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Satya Nadella is planning to host his first press event as Microsoft CEO next week. The software maker has been inviting members of the media to a special cloud- and mobile-focused event in San Francisco on March 27th. Nadella is expected to discuss Microsoft’s "mobile first, cloud first" strategy, and there will be some major news ahead of the company’s Build conference in early April. Sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans tell The Verge that the event will mark the introduction of Office for iPad.

Microsoft has been working on the software for a number of months now, having first introduced an iOS version of Office for the iPhone in June last year. We understand the iPad variant of Office will be similar to the iPhone version, and will require an Office 365 subscription for editing. We’re told that document creation and editing is fully supported for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps. Overall, the interface and features are expected to be similar to the existing iPhone version.

Microsoft's new CEO lays out his cloud and mobile strategy

Nadella’s unveiling of Office for iPad will be the first major press event for the new CEO, but it will also underline his strategy for Microsoft. Nadella hinted at "cloud first, mobile first" shortly after he was named CEO last month, and Microsoft launched a Mac version of its OneNote Office app today, along with Office Online recently. The March 27th event will set the stage for further announcements at the Build developer conference on April 2nd. Microsoft will unveil Windows Phone 8.1 at Build, and the company is expected to fully detail its Windows 8.1 Update and hint at some future plans for Windows 9.