Rumors have been circulating for years that Microsoft was working on a version of Office for the iPad, with speculation getting so intense at one point that the company went out of its way to categorically deny it. Still, once Microsoft released Office for iPhone, an iPad version seemed more plausible; indeed, credible sources said it would arrive in the first half of this year. Turns out, there was something to all that scuttlebutt: Microsoft today announced Office for iPad, a trio of apps that bring Word, PowerPoint and Excel to tablets. Those should be showing up in the App Store shortly — around 11AM Pacific (2PM Eastern), to be exact.

As with the iPhone version, these apps are free to download, and you can view documents/give presentations without a paid subscription. As ever, you’ll need to sign in with a OneDrive or SharePoint account to retrieve your documents, or else have your stuff stored on the iPad itself. However, if you ever want to edit a doc or create something from scratch, you’ll need an Office 365 subscription (you can even use Microsoft’s cheaper Office 365 Personal plan when it launches later this spring). If you like, you can also sign up for a 30-day trial at Office.com. UPDATE: click here for link to app store

via Microsoft releases Office for iPad, subscription required for editing docs.