Microsoft planning to bring Office Mobile to iPhone/Android?

We have recently seen a focus from the various divisions of Microsoft to be on as many mobile platforms as possible.

It seems from a recent job posting at Microsoft this will soon involve also the Office division of Microsoft, with the company recruiting for software engineers to bring Office Mobile not just to Windows Phone 7 and Nokia, with whom Microsoft has a pre-existing alliance, but also “other leading Smartphone platforms”.

The new software will “enhance the productivity and satisfaction of mobile information workers” and support “a myriad of local device services (audio, video, GPS, crypto, sync, and more) as well as a rich set of cloud-based services.”

The job posting does not actually say which “leading smartphone platform” will be first on the list, but the likelihood is high that it will involve iPhone, given the many iPhone apps Microsoft has developed already, though Blackberry and Android can of course not be excluded.

See the full job posting after the break.

Is Microsoft right to spread their tools and technology as wide as possible, and be where the users are, or should they instead promote their own platform by keeping their crown jewels to themselves?  Let us know your opinion below.

Software Development Engineer – Office Mobile Job

Date: Jun 28, 2010

Location: Redmond, WA, US

Job Category: Software Engineering: Development
Location: United States, WA, Redmond
Job ID: 719954 16832
Division: Microsoft Business Division

Be part of Microsoft’s strategy to deliver a great productivity experience across the PC, phone and browser! The Microsoft Office team is investing heavily in Office Mobile scenarios to make switching from your desktop to your mobile device a seamless and productive experience. In addition to the current Windows Mobile 6.5 and upcoming WM7 clients, with the recently announced alliance between Microsoft and Nokia we are working to bring Office Mobile to hundreds of millions of Nokia smartphone owners, followed by other leading Smartphone platforms.
Now is your chance to get in on the ground floor of the Office organization’s newest team. The Office Mobile suite includes Communicator Mobile, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, SharePoint, with more applications and capabilities being planned as part of the Office 15 product suite. This unique position involves technical challenges of working across multiple operating systems and devices as well as the chance to work with teams across the company and around the world. Our key focus going forward is designing and developing new end to end Mobile Office scenarios that greatly improve mobile meetings, productivity, and document management. All while taking advantage of the greater computing power, networking, memory, screen & touch, and GPS capabilities on next generation mobile computing platforms.

As a developer in this team you be personally involved in designing and coding features, and work closely with PM and Test counterparts across multiple orgs to help realize the vision of high quality experiences for mobile office workers. As a member of the applications development team, you will be responsible for designing and building new Mobile Office application features that enhance the productivity and satisfaction of mobile information workers. The platform will need to support a myriad of local device services (audio, video, GPS, crypto, sync, and more) as well as a rich set of cloud-based services. We are using a scenario based engineering model and agile development methodologies with frequent ship dates to rapidly innovate and get new experiences in the hands of our customers as quickly as possible.

The ideal candidate must have:

3 + years of C/C++ development experience in a large scale environment
Experience with full development lifecycle
Experience shipping a commercial software products
User Interfaces and or application development experience
Preferred skills and competencies:
An unbridled need to get your hands on the latest shiny gadgets and technologies
Experience in developing on one of Windows Mobile, Symbian or other mobile platform
Experience developing software on embedded systems where memory and performance constraints exist
Great communication skills
BS or higher degree in computer science, computer engineering, or related field is desired, but not required