Business customers have another option for easy, on-the-go mobile access to their necessary documents. Google Apps for Business is now available on Android and iPhone.
Previously, the productivity suite was only available for iPad. Users can view, edit and create Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents with the app. Unfortunately, only customers with a Google Apps for Business subscription can use the new release; other people will need to shell out $15 to use the Pro version of the app.
But it's likely Google will eventually release a free version, though it's likely to stay in beta for a few years.
"In addition to bringing Quickoffice to new devices, it's also now easier to find and use your Drive files from within the Quickoffice app. Sign in with your Google Apps for Business account and your Drive folders view will now include Shared With Me, Starred, Recent and any subfolders," Google said on its Enterprise blog. "And in case you didn't know, iPad and iPhone users can open and edit Office files directly from the Drive app. Just open Drive and select the file, make edits using Quickoffice and save it back to Drive."
Microsoft, who makes the original desktop versions of the Office 2013 productivity suite, has been struggling to implement mobile versions of its products. Functionality is usually limited, or inconvenient, or both, and different subscriptions and fees allow different levels of access to your own documents and the means to edit them on different devices. As of yet, there is no simple, comprehensive way to manage and utilize Microsoft Office documents while away from a desktop computer, at least not a method from Microsoft.
Google's release goes a long way to making that seemingly simple functionality a reality, though those of us who don't own small businesses will still need to wait our turns.