Microsoft has finally released Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iPad and they look beautiful.

It’s taken Microsoft 4 years to release Microsoft Office on the iPad. It’s all forgiven because it looks brilliant and seems to have a great user experience.

At this stage you can view/read Word, Excel and PowerPoint for free. Creating and editing will require an Office 365 subscription which starts at $80 USD for students and $100 for the general public.

I’m personally really surprised at how great the apps look and feel. They’re fast and fluid even on my 2nd generation iPad. The user experience seems to have been a major focus when developing the apps. Microsoft has done a great job of creating an iPad app that’s not just a stretched out iPhone up. It really feels like it’s made for iOS7.

This release along with the rebranding of Windows Azure to Microsoft Azure signals the new Microsoft that Satya Nadella is heading up. He’s doing a great job.

Make sure you give the iPad Office apps a try by clicking on this link.