Microsoft Office goes completely free for Android phones [Update: it's live]

Update: The latest version of Office for Android is now in the Play Store, removing the requirement of an Office 365 subscription.

Original story: Alongside the much-awaited announcement ofOffice for the iPad, Microsoft dropped a bit of a bombshell today by making Office for Android completely free to use on phones. The app itself has always been free, but you needed to have a paid Office 365 subscription in order to make any use of it.

Now it's open to everyone so long as they're using an Android phone (or iPhone), giving you the ability to fully view and edit Microsoft Office documents without any restriction, just as you would expect on a Windows Phone. This is a pretty big step towards getting more folks interested in eventually paying for Office on the desktop, considering the ubiquity of Google Docs and the myriad of other office solutions on mobile devices.

We're still waiting for the update to go live in the Play Store (it just hit the Apple App Store moments ago), but once the latest build is up you will no longer need to log in with an Office 365-linked Microsoft account to edit. Keep your eyes on the Play Store at the link above.

Source: Microsoft