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.

iOS 5 appears to have a hidden word correction bar which can be enabled without the need for a jailbreak. Discovered by Sonny Dickson, the word correction bar works in a very similar way to Android devices. If you want to turn on the auto-correct bar, the good news is that you do not have to have a jailbroken device. Having said that, it is a bit fiddly — editing plists and restoring backups, just like the hidden camera panorama mode discovered on Monday — so if you decide to try it, be careful and remember this is at your own risk!

The hack appears to work on the iPhone, iPad  and iPod touch. If you give this one a go, let is know what you think of it! To check out how to do it, hit the link below!

Source: Sonny Dickson via 9to5Mac

Having a virtually full-fledged word processor like Apple’s Pages iWork app [$9.99- iTunes Link] on the iPad is a big deal. There has been a lot of discussion, however, about how Pages would work on the iPad. How do I transfer/ sync documents? How will my formatting be effected?

I had to use Pages to do some document editing for a house flyer for our home (we are in the process of selling). I figured what a great opportunity to give Pages a spin. First, I had to get the document on the iPad. Email or iTunes? The Pages file was 12MB so I opted to transfer it via iTunes. The process was simple; I selected the Pages app from the bottom of the Apps tab with my iPad attached to my iMac. I clicked the add files button and chose my Pages file. I synced the iPad and my house flyer appeared in the document list in pages.

After importing the house flyer into Pages, I was not greeted with any formatting warnings (to be fair I have imported Microsoft Word documents and did receive warnings. It was hit and miss; some documents looked identical, others, not so much) and I began editing immediately. But, there was one problem…

I did not know where anything was or how it worked! So, I had to start to play. Where do I change my fonts besides a style? How to I change a graphic to wrap through text and not around it? These were all challenges that with time, I was able to figure out. I would estimate it took a good 30 minutes to fully comprehend how things worked and use the app. Tabs, columns, watermarks, images and graphics can all be added to a document with relative ease.

Using Pages to create and edit my document was… pure joy. Touching your document was fun, and after the initial learning curve, it was easy. Your created documents not only look good, but you have complete control over their flow which is more than ANY other mobile app of this type can offer.

With my editing done, it was time to get my document back to my iMac desktop. So, I had couple of options. I could email, but the file is still to big. I could send as a PDF, but I want to continue to edit the file. I could send it to iWork.com. But, I don’t want the hassle. What do I do? Well, there is an export option as well. You can export the file as a Pages, PDF or Word Document. Once this is done, the document is available to be saved from iTunes on the same tab I used to uploaded it from my iMac. Now it gives me a choice to save to my iMac when I dock my iPad.

Now I have to admit that iWork.com may ultimately be a better solution for accessing edited documents in larger quantities. If I had to transfer several documents it would be tedious doing it through iTunes, but still doable. However, accessing iWork.com on the iPad allows you to download the pages file right there and begin editing. When done, sending to iWork.com is just as easy.

This app is not entirely made from unicorn tears however. I did encounter issues with Pages crashing and being sluggish at times, regardless of the document size. I can easily cut Apple slack on this since it is a 1.0 product. I have confidence Apple will release updates for stability and functionality just like its desktop big brother. Still, don’t let these little nuances dissuade you; make no mistake that this is an unparalleled best-in-class app from the user interface to it’s core functionality.

If you have an iPad and need to create or edit documents, this is a must buy.

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.

Very reasonably priced and there won’t be a need to have a discount for existing customers…

What are you hoping for? Word, Excel and PowerPoint functionality? I would love the triple play. Do you think DataViz will deliver?

Dieter’s on the floor at CTIA, and we’re hoping he’ll bring back a closer look, but in the meantime the fine folks at QuickOffice have just let us know that their new iPhone app, QuickOffice for iPhone will be available in the next few weeks, and will cost $19.99.

Quickoffice for iPhone has an intuitive user interface and supports comprehensive functionality including cut, copy and paste, font formatting, content selection and bullets within Word documents. Users can also leverage a wider keyboard to edit and create documents in landscape mode. Excel functionality includes extensive mathematical and statistical formulas.

Other useful features include file sharing capabilities via Wi-Fi desktop connectivity and access to one’s MobileMe iDisk account. Editing is done with maintaining perfect data integrity, in addition to ‘auto-save’ to ensure none of your work is lost on-the-go.

We’re guessing “next few weeks” means they’ll be using a custom-made cut/copy paste implementation under iPhone 2.x, which means we’re also guess there’ll be a new version come iPhone 3.0 launch this “summer”.

There have been other apps offering Excel editing in the paste, but Word editing is new for the iPhone (unless DocsToGo gets there first). Is it enough to get you over your document hurdle, or are there any power users still hungering for more?

What’s that? iPhone news at MWC09? It’s true. I just got back from a meeting with DocsToGo and they showed off an early version of their app. So far Word document editing is a go, Spreadsheet editing is definitely in the plan but not quite up and running yet. They’re tossing in document viewing for both plus PDFs as well — which means you can have all of your documents in one spot.

Read on to find out how it all works, where the iPhone kinks are (since Apple limits what developers can do easily), and how we’re loving their implementation of (in-app) Cut and Paste!

Apple obviously won’t let DataViz go in and mess with their mail client, so email attachments are going to be pretty rough (read: non-starter). However, and here’s where things get mysterious, DataViz does plan on having a desktop client that will allow you to sync your documents over to the iPhone and back again and the DocsToGo app on the iPhone will be able to “get around the sandbox” of not being able to store files locally. How exactly will all this happen? DataViz will wink, but can’t say yet.

I did get a pretty good look at the Word doc editing and I have to say it’s pretty slick. There’s a single editing bar at the bottom which you can swipe left and right to get at all the various options. Full support for inline images, formatting, outlining, and more is all here. Also here, Cut and Paste done in a very clever way. You can:

• Double tap a word to select it.
• Triple tap a paragraph to select it.
• In magnify view, you can hold down your finger with the cursor in the same spot until the magnifying glass “pulses,” which will then let you select character by character.

Apple — please make sure you let this app in and when you do, take a very close look at their text selection method, because we’re liking it.

DataViz hopes to have the whole shootin’ match (perhaps minus spreadsheet editing, depending on their dev timeline) sometime in Q2 2009.