Despite there being several good alternatives out there already, ones that have been in the mobile space for quite some time, Microsoft is believed to finally be preparing to release Office for iPad. If you’ve been waiting to have the official Excel, Powerpoint, Word and OneNote app for iPad, you can breathe a sigh of relied.

Pocket-Lint by way of ZDNet reported on Saturday that we can expect a release in the first half of 2014. Technically that means sometime between now and July but sources have said it should be sooner rather than later.

With the absence of Microsoft Office on the iPad, hardcore iPad enterprise users, the mobile workforce, and students alike have turned to alternatives like Quick Office, Docs2go and Google Drive. These apps have given users the ability to share, make and create documents, spreadsheets and presentations on the iPad and even save them in traditional Microsoft Office formats.

On PC’s, desktops and laptops alike, and even across both Mac and PC, Microsoft has dominated in the document creation space. People are just more familiar with their suite of productivity apps that originally debuted over 23 years ago.

The problem with Microsoft’s competitors, that coincidentally use their formats for document creation, is the fact that Microsoft has staying power and brand recognition in the space.

There’s no word on pricing yet but many believe that Microsoft will offer Office for iPad, free and then charge users to use their cloud based Office 365 service. Also, no exact date has been named but we hear the release is imminent.

image: tabtimes