ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley got her hands on Microsoft’s product release roadmap indicating the ‘Gemini,’ if turned out to be accurate then the Microsoft’s Office for iOS and Android as well as Outlook for Windows RT – all on the chart and is on the way although the iOS version of Microsoft’s productivity suite which being eagerly awaited may not be debut until the October of 2014.
The key excerpt:
- Gemini Wave 1.0, October 2013: Windows Blue app updates
- Gemini Wave 1.5, April 2014: Office for Mac; Office RT refresh; Perceptive Pixel support; Windows Phone support refresh
- Gemini Wave 2.0, October 2014: Outlook RT; Office for iOS/Android
Microsoft Guru Paul Thurrott also shared his theory, saying:
My theory is that given the obvious internal debate over the pros and cons of Office on iPad inside Microsoft, a deal was struck: Yes, the Office team could agnostically support non-Windows platforms with the Office 2013 wave of products. But it needed to wait until Windows 8/RT was firmly established in the market. […]
Office for iPad, launched at the same time as Windows 8/RT, would most likely have killed the market for Windows 8 and RT devices.
