CTIA: QuickOffice For The iPhone Is Awesome

Today at the CTIA wireless trade show, I was able to see a demonstration of the new QuickOffice software that will be available for the iPhone later this month. Instant verdict: epic win for enterprise productivity!If there was an enterprise app lacking from the iPhone, it was the ability to interact with Microsoft Word and Excel documents. QuickOffice empowers other major smartphone platforms with Microsoft document access, and it is now bringing that power to the iPhone.

To be honest, I couldn't be more impressed with how easy, intuitive, and powerful QuickOffice for the iPhone is. It preserves all of the Microsoft formatting and all changes made to documents are saved in the native .doc and .xcl formats.

The user interface created by QuickOffice takes hold of the iPhone's strengths, such as the touch screen, to make functionality a breeze. Basic features in Word let you select, highlight, and cut-&-copy text; add bulleted items; change font formatting (bold, italic, underlined); and automatically save as you edit.

The version of Excel that I saw offers many of the full version's features, including inserting and deleting rows/columns; performing calculations; and maintaining multiple open spreadsheets at any one time.

What I liked best is that QuickOffice will automatically sync with iPhone users' MobileMe accounts and store documents on users' iDisk. The iPhone can also be tethered to a PC via Wi-Fi,, which lets users search for documents as if the iPhone were a mounted hard drive.

Having the full power to interact with Microsoft Docs will play a key role in helping the iPhone further penetrate the enterprise.

Given how easy the software is to use, I predict it will be a big success for QuickOffice.