Microsoft, Dropbox announce surprise tie-up

Los Angeles - In a surprise announcement, the online file sharing service Dropbox and the software giant Microsoft on Tuesday said they're teaming up.

"We're partnering with Microsoft to help you do more on your phones, tablets and the web," said Ilya Fushman, head of product at Dropbox, in a blog post.

In the next few weeks, he said, users will be able to edit Microsoft Office files through the Dropbox mobile app, and access Dropbox files from Office on iPad and Android platforms. Dropbox will be accessible through Office online starting in 2015.

Dropbox will also release an app designed for Microsoft's Windows phone. The Windows phone has often suffered from app developers' preference for Apple's iOS and Google's Android operating systems.

Until now, Office was integrated only with Microsoft's own OneDrive online file storage service. But Microsoft's clients on rival platforms wanted the change, said Kirk Koenigsbauer, Office corporate vice president for engineering.

"We've had just about 40 million downloads of Office for iPad. These customers want access to Dropbox," Kirk Koenigsbauer told Wired magazine.