We’ve known for months that Microsoft was bringing a version of Microsoft Office 2013 to Android tablets and Apple’s iPad family. Now, according to the Czech tech news site, IHNED, Microsoft product manager Petr Bobek has said that Microsoft is planning to release native iOS and Android versions of Office 2013 in the first quarter of 2013

Bobek, a Microsoft Office portfolio manager in the Czech Republic, said that these new versions of Office will be available to larger companies and Microsoft partners In December 2012. small-office/home-office (SOHO) and household users will have to wait until at least February. The online version of Office 365 edition for mobile devices and tablets will appear in early 2013.

In an e-mail, the author of the INHED story clarified that the release would be after March 2013. “We had a slight miscommunication with the MS guys and the timeline for Office for iOS and Android is not a March release, but release sometime after March.”

Officially, the only thing Microsoft had to say at first was that “As we shared previously, Office Mobile will work across Windows Phones, Android phones and iOS, and we have nothing additional to announce today about retail availability of the new Office.”

Microsoft Office coming to Android and Apple devices in early 2013. More >