According to Microsoft's official figures, so far the Office application from the App Store was downloaded 12 million times. If we take into account that the Office for iPad is available for only one week, the data sounds impressive. For iPad are available four applications - Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and separately OneNote. Applications for viewing the documents are free, and editing require a subscription to Office 365. It is not known how many of the users of this issue have purchased a subscription too.

While the Office for iPad is already available, Microsoft this week at the Build conference announced Office for Windows devices with touch screens. Launch time is not yet known.

[Ed - This milestone is great for Microsoft, but I wonder how many of these downloads are already subscribers through their home or work accounts. The comparrison would be a good view into the market (desktop Vs mobile). We already know that the desktop (even low end ones) still rules the business market, but the tablet has been pushing into it as a companion device very quickly. Many POS (Point of Sale) systems are moving to tablet as well as ticketing and tracking software. Putting an industry standard productivity suite out there could tip the scales in favor of the tablet. Sadly, it just might not help Microsoft..]

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