Microsoft really hit it out of the park on Thursday. CEO’s of Apple and Microsoft were sending joy filled Tweets to each other after the big press conference.

The reason? Microsoft Office for iPad is really here. The iPad can finally be considered a business tool.
Here is a nice review of the new product with images — http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-office-for-ipad-sets-the-gold-standard-for-tablet-productivity-7000027797/#ftag=RSSa123448

The basics: A basic version of Office for iPad is available for free. However, there are limitations. You can only view Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. You can also do PowerPoint presentations but cannot EDIT with the free version.

The real deal: As I promised you last week, the full version of Office for iPad will only come with an Office 365 subscription. With this plan, you can fully edit and create Word, PowerPoint and Excel files on your iPad. For consumers, these plans are $99 per year (install on 5 computers – Windows, Mac, Mix + match), plus your iPads. There is supposed to be an other plan that comes out for $70 a year covering 1 computer + iPad. This should be available in April

Keep in mind, the iPad Air starts at $499. If you are going to store a moderate amount to significant amount of documents on there you’ll probably want the 32 GB model which goes for $599. Add in a keyboard cover or separate wireless keyboard and you’re looking at $700. You can get a pretty good Windows laptop for $700. However, it’s not an iPad. I just want to give you full disclosure.