Microsoft exec hints at Office for iPhone

Speaking at the Web 2.0 Expo, Stephen Elop, president of Microsoft’s Business Division, hinted that the company may be planning to bring a version of its Office productivity suite to the iPhone. When asked whether Microsoft was committed to getting its major productivity applications onto the Web and on mobile devices, Elop said the company recognizes the growing demand from smartphone users, pointing out how many people now access their Facebook accounts with their iPhones because the device, and others like it, had made it practical to access on the go. After interviewer Tim O’Reilly asked Elop directly whether this meant the iPhone would get access to a mobile edition of Office, he said, “not yet, keep watching.” Elop also announced that Microsoft plans to launch an ad-supported online version of Office sometime after 2009; it is unclear whether an iPhone version of the software would be created as a web application or as a standalone app.