Office for iPad is actually popular — it now has 12 million downloads

Remember when we told you Microsoft Office for iPad hit the number one spot in the app store after only 12 hours?

Well, now it’s up to 12 million downloads only in the past week. Wowza.

The launch of the suite of apps was rumored for a couple of years, and clearly the awaiting fans did not waste any time in downloading.

Interestingly, Microsoft was not the first company to put the Office suite on the iPad. CloudOn is one such company, and it launched its version of Office for iPad two years ago, almost to the day.

As of February 2013, about 10 months after launching first on the iPad, its apps had been downloaded a total of 3.5 million times, according to CloudOn.

Cloud-gaming company OnLive also released its own version of Windows apps for the tablet, though there were questions regarding it possibly violating Microsoft licensing.

Considering it was probably one of the most viable options for accessing Office on mobile, Microsoft’s achievement of almost four times the downloads, just on iPad (CloudOn is available on Android and mobile phones), and within a short week, is a sign that Microsoft really had nothing to worry about.

For a closer look at Office for iPad, check out our hands-on review.