Mobility, cloud and social the watchwords for Office 2013

Microsoft takes wraps off latest incarnation of flagship applications package

The hotly anticipated latest of iteration of Microsoft Office was unveiled yesterday, with touchscreen technology and cloud consumption models among the key features.

Office 2013 was officially shown off for the first time by Steve Ballmer (pictured), chief executive of the software vendor, who outlined that the applications suite has been designed to work as well with tablets as it does with PCs and their peripherals.

The product can be used by consumers as a hosted offering and features including cloud storage and roaming capabilities are also available. Social functionality is a key theme, with Skype and Yammer included in subscriptions.

Full pricing and availability details will be revealed in the autumn, and three new Office 365 packages, including a full set of Office 2013 applications, are also to be launched: Home Premium; Small Business Premium; and ProPlus.

"We are taking bold steps at Microsoft," said Ballmer. "The new, modern Office will deliver unparalleled productivity and flexibility for both consumers and business customers. It is a cloud service and will fully light up when paired with Windows 8."