MS Office for iPad?

Back in November, The Daily initially uncovered the existence of an iPad version of the Microsoft Office Suite, The Daily says. Sources now say the app will soon be submitted to Apple for approval.

A brief hands-on with a working prototype of the software revealed a number of new things. The app's user interface is similar to the current OneNote app, but it has hints of Metro, the new design language that can be seen in Windows Phone and in the as-yet-unreleased Windows 8 desktop operating system.

Microsoft has responded to these rumours on Twitter, First Post notes. The company's official account, Microsoft News @MSFTnews stated the following: Great respect for The Daily but regrettably someone is giving them bad info, and that'll be clear in the “coming weeks”.

Microsoft's response has not marked the end of speculations, with tech blogs buzzing about who's right and what 'coming weeks' means. TheNextWeb'sAlex Wilhelm feels “Microsoft nearly never comments on rumours or speculation. It's their mantra. That they have been so vocal on this issue is more than simply interesting, it's downright suspicious. Something is afoot.”

It comes as no surprise that Microsoft has developed the app; after all, the company has already shown willingness to develop for Apple's slate, which is becoming a staple productivity tool among students and businessmen, Laptop Mag reports.

On the Office for iPad app, you'll supposedly be able to create Word, Excel and PowerPoint files and edit them both locally and online.

Just like Microsoft's other dedicated apps, Microsoft Office for iPad flaunts details of the Metro UI. A leaked picture of the app running on an iPad reveals a button to create a new document, as well as separate tiles for Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.

In this sense, design-wise, the app doesn't stray too far from Microsoft's other iPad creations, including Bing and MSN.