After a month-long preview period, Microsoft has widely released three Office apps for Android smartphones, Word, Powerpoint and Excel. The company says that thousands of users in nearly 100 countries tried and left feedback for the three apps, leading to significant performance and stability improvements. “For example,” a blog post noted, “we made it easier to connect to other popular third-party storage offerings like Google Drive and Box, as well as many usability adjustments to make it easier to navigate commands within the apps.”
The apps come months after Office apps came to iPhone, and nearly a year after a preview first appeared for Android tablets. In that time, Microsoft has rededicated itself to making touch-based versions of Office apps like Word and Excel available on as many platforms as possible, in order to complement the upcoming Windows 10 release, set to debut on July 29th.
Microsoft also recently announced a partnership with a number of Android OEMs, including Samsung and LG, to pre-install Office apps on future phones and tablets.
All three apps require Android 4.4 KitKat or higher, which eliminates 49.4% of Android users from running the apps, as of last month’s tally.
[source]Word, Excel, Powerpoint[/source]
