After years of rumors, Microsoft finally unveiled Office for iPad in late March. This is a huge addition to the iPad, as demonstrated by the more than 12 million downloads of the product in the first week it was released.

The iPad Just Got More Business-Friendly

One of the biggest business complaints about the iPad has been that it’s great as a personal device and for catching up on e-mail, but you really couldn’t do real work on it. You can now use the core 3 of Word, Excel and PowerPoint on your iPad fairly seamlessly. Microsoft has integrated Office for iPad into their Office 365 suite of products with an annual fee of only $100, which includes online file storage (or you can simply view files in Office for iPad, but not work on them, for free).

A Familiar Interface And Functionality

Just about everything you’re used to within the Office Suite is here on the iPad, optimized for touch screens. These three apps are feature-rich, powerful business tools. And while a menu item or two might be out of place, you’ll soon quickly adapt to the user interface.