Microsoft eyeing iPhone development

Given their long-standing rivalry, you might think that Microsoft would be wringing its hands over the iPhone. But if there’s one thing the Redmond-based company knows, it’s where the money is. With the announcement of the iPhone SDK, combined with Apple’s support for Microsoft’s Exchange email protocol, the iPhone has become a ripe target for Microsoft’s software development.

Microsoft’s Tom Gibbons (pictured), who heads up the company’s Specialized Devices and Applications Group—which includes the Mac Business Unit—told Fortune that they’re investigating iPhone development.

“It’s really important for us to understand what we can bring to the iPhone,” [said Gibbons]. “To the extent that Mac Office customers have functionality that they need in that environment, we’re actually in the process of trying to understand that now.”
While the iPhone can, of course, view Office files from Word and Excel, many users have made known their desires to be able to edit those files on their iPhone as well.

Outside of Gibbons’s group, there are other at Microsoft who are apparently interested in the opportunities presented by the iPhone platform as well, such as TellMe, the voice recognition software that Microsoft purchased not long ago. Seeing as voice-dialing is another oft-requested feature, if Microsoft can make it happen, the customers will probably flock to them.