Office 2008 for Mac to feature iPhone sync capability

Microsoft is planning to provide as part of Office 2008 for Mac -- the final version of which is due January 2008 -- technology that will allow users to export PowerPoint 2008 presentations onto their iPods and/or iPhones.

Microsoft explained in a November 27 post to the Microsoft Mac Mojo blog how the forthcoming feature will work. From the post:

"Getting presentations from PowerPoint 2008 for Mac to your iPod or iPhone is easy. PowerPoint exports your presentation as a series of pictures directly to iPhoto, or saves those same slide images as pictures to your Pictures folder. From there, sync pictures to your iPod or iPhone through iTunes as usual, then use the built-in Photos or slide show program on your iPod or iPhone to show your presentation. No sweat!

"Presentations look great on the big wide screens of iPhone and iPod Touch, but they look even better on a big screen TV or projected. Plug your iPod into a television or projector using the Apple Component AV or Composite AV cable and leave your laptop in the case."

The new feature will work on any iPhone or iPod model that supports pictures, like the iPod Touch, iPod Classic or current generation iPod Nano, and will requires iPhoto ‘06 or later, according to Microsoft.

Office 2008 for Mac is slated to ship on January 15, 2008.

On a related note, what about syncing iPhones with Microsoft Exchange? Still no update from Apple or Microsoft on when Apple will publicly acknowledge that it has licensed Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol. As I mentioned a while back, I have it from good sources that Apple did do the deal, but neither Microsoft nor Apple will comment.