Microsoft PR offers mixed messages on Office for iPad [u]
updated 03:25 pm EST, Tue February 21, 2012
App may be under development
(Updated with rebuttal from The Daily) Microsoft is downplaying a supposed leak of Office for iPad, according to reports. The New York Times quotes a spokeswoman as saying that the The Daily's information is "based on inaccurate rumors and speculation." A spokesperson reached by ZDNet insists that a screenshot accompanying the The Daily article isn't authentic, but is refusing to say whether or not an iPad version of Office is in development.
The app has been rumored for some time, but The Daily hinted that it was effectively finished, and almost ready to be submitted for approval at the App Store. If and when an Office app does reach the iPad, though, it will comes as part of a multi-pronged approach to making the suite mobile. The software's lead mobile platform will be Windows 8 tablets.
Update: The Daily's Peter Ha has gone on record via Twitter to defend the authenticity of the main image accompanying the story. He moreover challenges Microsoft to debunk a second image used as a splash, in which an Office app icon sits on an iPad's homescreen.
