Typically, Apple sucks the air out of the news cycle during its keynote events. However, during the Sept 9th event, Microsoft managed to steal a couple of breaths. In the middle of the iPad Pro announcement Microsoft product manager, Kirk Koenigsbauer crept onto Apple’s big event stage to demo Office on the new iPad Pro.
Apple dedicated almost forty minutes to discussing the features and specs of its new Surface Pro competitor. However, when it came to detailing the new ‘Pencil’ and explain why the tablet held the title iPad ’Pro’ the stage was handed over to Microsoft.
On the stage, Kirk demoed Microsoft’s suite of Office apps for iOS. Starting with Excel, Kirk went on to showcase the marriage between pen input and the level of detail Office users can now wield on the iPad.
[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]‘Pro’ is still associated with Microsoft software[/pullquote]
The demonstration in and of itself garnered a few claps from the Apple front row, but it will prove to be a topic of discussion and debate for some time to come. The lack of an iWorks demonstration on the iPad Pro will definitely be scrutinized. More importantly, than Microsoft’s presence on stage was the reinforcement that the term ‘Pro’ is still associated with Microsoft software.
