Report: Office for Android Beta In Testing – Office for Windows Tablets Still MIA

With no sign of the Windows Tablet version of MS Office on the imminent horizon at least, it’s looking more and more probable that Office for Android will launch earlier…MUCH earlier.

It’s borderline unthinkable that Microsoft could be pushing its MS Office for Android forward at a faster rate than its own Windows tablet version…but it’s happening.

Not that bringing a full Office suite to Android is in any way surprising…Lord knows it’s probably going to turn out to be the mother of all lucrative ventures for the Redmond folks. What is quite shocking however is that we’re still seeing little to nothing of the version of Office optimized for Windows tablets, which in turn leads to the obvious prediction that Microsoft is dealing its own interests a pretty sizeable blow by allowing Android to pip it to the post.

We’ve already been playing with Office for iOS for quite some time now, which has already been downloaded well in excess of 27 million times. And with considerable more Android devices doing the rounds that iOS gadgets, there’s a pretty solid chance this figure could be equaled or improved upon.

At this rate, by the time the Windows tab version of Office makes an appearance, it will have about as much appeal as a pimple.

Back to the point, new reports from The Verge have stated that a private beta version of Office for Android is baking away nicely behind the scenes, which is of course an obvious precursor to its eventual launch. In terms of timeframe, it’s still largely theorized that the suite could be prepped and ready to go by the end of the summer, though at worst we’ll be seeing it before the end of the year.

As for the Windows tab build – best guess estimates are now falling around Q1 of next year.