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Cape Town - Microsoft's Word application has rocketed to briefly become the most popular application on Apple's App Store.
Results from App Annie show that Word jumped briefly into the number one slot on the App Store before being overtaken by Facebook's Messenger app.
Excel and PowerPoint were also in the top 10 before settling into 16th and 18th position respectively.
Microsoft has been pushing to pivot from the desktop to smart devices such as tablets under new CEO Satya Nadella.
The company offered its popular Office software for iPads and iPhones, but users also had to have an Office subscription to activate essential features.
However, in a move that stunned market watchers, Microsoft reduced the cost of portfolio of Office products - Word, PowerPoint and Excel to zero, facilitating a download rush as the apps raced to the top of the charts.
Declining PC sales globally is part of the reason Nadella wants to shift Microsoft to a mobile first company, but it is also expected that as more people use the firm's products on their mobile devices, they will buy subscriptions for use on PCs.
Microsoft has also partnered with cloud storage provider Dropbox in a deal that will enable people to edit Office files in Dropbox.
The free Office apps have more functionality than the previous versions and Microsoft is working on similar applications for Android smartphones.
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