Back in November, The Daily claimed that Microsoft was working on a version of its hugely popular “Office” application for the iPad.  It has now followed up its original story with a picture of Office running on the iPad and the notion that it is now complete and very close to being submitted to Apple for approval. The Daily even managed to grab some hands-on time with a working prototype of the Office application.

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-released Windows 8 desktop operating system. Word, Excel and PowerPoint files can be created and edited locally and online. But it’s unclear if Microsoft will support other Office apps at launch or at all.

Source: The Daily

CloudOn, a free iPad app that offered Microsoft Office functionality with Dropbox support, appeared briefly in the App Store yesterday before going up in a puff of smoke a short time later.

CloudOn has responded saying their app has "sold out", but we think this may have had something to do with server overload.

Thanks for your support of CloudOn! We're currently sold out. We look forward to the feedback we will receive as we continue to support the many users that have registered in this first phase.

The fact that CloudOn came with full Dropbox support for storing and managing office files on-the-go was a great idea for power users, and the overall offering is unique in respect to beating Microsoft to the punch at their own game. This could be another reason the app is no longer available, as Microsoft could have called shenanigans if CloudOn didn't go through the appropriate channels before release.

I gave it a quick whirl when it was actually up and running, and noticed the app was somewhat sluggish from the get-go (probably due to how much it relies on the cloud backend to get things done paired with the influx of users hammering their servers).

We'll let you know as soon as CloudOn is back in the App Store. In the meantime, here's its description:

• Use Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint on your iPad to create or edit documents.
• Rename, delete and manage documents with your Dropbox account
• Display, edit or create charts, change formatting, spell check, insert comments, into any Word, Excel or PowerPoint files
• Track changes while reviewing Word documents
• Use pivot tables and insert formulas in Excel workbooks
• Display and edit animation or transitions in PowerPoint presentations
• Present in full PowerPoint mode (not in PDF)
• Open files directly from your iPad email accounts or Dropbox account
• Automatically save documents to avoid losing changes

Source: CloudOn

Have an app you’d love to see featured on TiPb? Email us at iosapps@tipb.com, tell us about your app (include an iTunes link), and we’ll take a look.

We just finished having a sit down with the fine folks from DocsToGo and they shared some exciting news about DocsToGo Premium: Desktop Sync and Google Sync are en route! They expect they'll be submitting the app to the Apple in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned for the release. DocsToGo is currently $14.99 in the App Store.

Document Sync with the desktop works just like you would expect it to: plug in and Sync. What's more exciting for me (and for cloud-lovers everywhere) is that you'll be able to sync with all the documents you've stored up at Google Docs. It's a full sync client - meaning that you can download and edit documents offline and then sync them up with Google Docs later. Another thing worth noting is that Google recently updated Google Docs to allow you to upload any file - which means you will be able to upload and store PDFs, images, and documents to Google Docs and then access them later with DocsToGo. (Video after the break!)

Otherwise, as it always is with major mobile conferences, the iPhone isn't officially here but unofficially it's everywhere. My completely unscientific method of "hey, what's in people's hands" poll shows that it's slightly edging out Nokia as the most popular phone at Mobile World Congress.

Documents to Go with Exchange Attachments is all grown up, has changed its name to Documents to Go Premium [$14.99 - iTunes link], and now offers support for PowerPoint and Gmail attachments for iPhone and iPod touch:

• Edit and create Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations
• Edit/add bullets and text in Outline mode (changes reflected immediately in Slide view)
• Edit/add speaker notes
• Sort/add/dupe/delete slides
• Edit/view Gmail attachments

About the only thing missing is a dedicated, multi-app accessible file repository on the iPhone akin to what the photo app does for images. Get working on that, would you Apple?

Meanwhile, it's a free update for existing users so if you buy it or just upgrade it, and you try out Docs to Go's new PowerPoint or Gmail features, let us know how they work for you!

Apple's Thursday press release (via Ars Technica), while big on Enterprise and chock-full of SDK goodness, also snuck in some new, long sought-after features for one of the built-in apps: MobileMail (Mail Touch?).

In addition to these new iPhone network and security features, the beta iPhone 2.0 software provides several new Mail features such as the ability to view PowerPoint attachments, in addition to Word and Excel, as well as the ability to mass delete and move email messages.

But what about the other built-in apps like Calendar and Contacts?

Our own eagle-eyed Chad Garrett has already spotted a mysterious new icon on Calendar, and predicted we may indeed see Task integration (GTD'ers, put it on your to do's!).

Now BlargKABOOM (via TUAW) has hauled out the iMicroscope and discovered yet another tantalizing new icon, this time in Contacts:

It is a little spotlight icon right above the A on the alphabet.

Does this mean we may just be getting search as well? If so, how will it be implemented, and will it be limited to contacts or (dare we hope?) system wide, SDK-level CoreSearch?

iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, YouTube, the Weather, Stock and other widgets, and MobileSafari Touch have all had search for a while now. C'mon Apple, share the love!