Microsoft Office Tool Supports iPhone -- Visual Studio Magazine

Microsoft Office Tool Supports iPhone

By Jeffrey Schwartz
01/09/2009

Users of Apple's iPhone may have been able to connect to Microsoft's Exchange Server, but they haven't been able to edit Office files in their native file format. Quickoffice this week moved to change that, releasing a new version of its MobileFiles Pro software on Apple's App Store during the Macworld Expo in San Francisco.

Currently, MobileFiles Pro can edit only native Excel files, but the Plano, Texas-based company plans to offer support for other Office file formats, said Gregg Fiddes, the company's VP of sales and strategic partnerships. "There are some apps out there that create and save in an XML format, but this is saving to a native .XLS format," he said. Users can connect and synchronize files with Apple MobileMe accounts.

Rival DataViz Inc., provider of the popular Documents To Go software, has indicated on its Web site that it also intends to offer a release for the iPhone.

While Quickoffice has offered native Office support on other mobile platforms -- BlackBerry, Palm and Symbian -- Apple's App Store represented a new delivery mechanism for the software developer, Fiddes said: "It's a very efficient mechanism." The App Store has created a new model for the development and delivery of mobile applications

MobileFiles Pro will likely support Google's Android platform in the not-too-distant future, according to Fiddes. He added the company has no plans to develop to Windows Mobile, noting Microsoft offers Office natively on its own platform. The new iPhone version costs $9.99.

About the Author

Jeffrey Schwartz is editor of Redmond magazine and also covers cloud computing for Virtualization Review's Cloud Report. In addition, he writes the Channeling the Cloud column for Redmond Channel Partner. Follow him on Twitter @JeffreySchwartz.

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