Office for iOS and Android delayed till late next year

Microsoft's Office for iOS and Android has been in the pipeline for for quite a while, making choice appearances over the past few years. Most recently, The Verge was able to sample the software last November, with a release scheduled for early this year, but those plans appear to have changed.

According to a report by ZDNet, a roadmap of Microsoft's upcoming product updates seems to show that iOS and Android versions of Office won't be coming until at least 2014. Support for both platforms looks like it will follow the launch of new Blue-compatible Office products in October of this year, as well as updated Windows RT and Mac versions in April of 2014. The products are part of Microsoft's "Gemini" initiative, which plans on releasing Office products in waves alongside the new Windows Blue OS.

It has been widely anticipated that the eventual launch of Office for iOS and Android would be part of an Office 365 subscription, which would be required in order to enable document editing in the application. Unfortunately, the roadmap has no mention of this strategy, and we're forced to wait for Microsoft to shed light on the situation.

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