Microsoft is releasing a version of OneNote customized for iPad. Microsoft and Apple, despite their rivalries, also enjoy a symbiotic relationship.
Microsoft is
releasing an iOS version of its OneNote collaboration and note-taking software,
customized for the iPad.
Despite their
ostensible rivalry in areas as diverse as mobile devices and operating systems,
Microsoft and Apple nonetheless continue a symbiotic relationship centered on
the former's software for the Mac. OneNote 1.3 for iOS, with its support for
both iPad versions, falls firmly into that tradition: Even as it ports its
software onto Apple's popular tablet, Microsoft is readying its own tablet
efforts around Windows 8, due for release sometime in 2012.
Other OneNote
1.3 for iOS features include support for several new languages, tabbed user
interface, an upgraded Windows Live sign-in experience and the ability to sync
notebooks over a WiFi connection.
Rumors have
circulated that Microsoft is planning on bringing a tablet-friendly version of
Office to the iPad sometime in 2012, at least according to unnamed sources
cited recently by
The Daily.
That
publication added that a new version of Office for Mac OS X Lion is also in
development for release sometime in 2012. Considering the size of the iPad user
base, productivity software for the tablet could prove a particularly
profitable avenue for Microsoft. Presumably, Microsoft is also prepping a
touch-optimized version of Office for its own upcoming Windows 8 tablets.
Apple isn't
the only competitor helping Microsoft's bottom line. Even as Microsoft's Windows
Phone scrambles for traction among smartphone users, the company's legal team
has maneuvered a growing list of Google Android device manufacturers into
paying royalties for their products. Microsoft argues that Android violates
many of its patents.
Android
royalties or no, Microsoft will need to face down the growing host of Android
tablets-and the iPad-with its Windows 8 tablets. Microsoft plans on making a
hard push for the operating system as "no compromises," no matter what form factor
it's loaded upon. The user interface is bifurcated into two separate
environments: one filled with colorful tiles linked to applications, supposedly
ideal for tablets, and a more traditional desktop that should appeal to power
PC users.
However, some
analysts have expressed concerns over Microsoft's relative lateness to the
consumer tablet market.
"For tablets ...
Windows really isn't a fast-follower," Forrester analyst JP Gownder wrote in a
Nov. 29
corporate blog posting. "Rather, it's (at best) a
fifth-mover after iPad, Android tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, HP's
now-defunct webOS tablet and the BlackBerry PlayBook tablets."
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