Over the last few days there has been quite the back-and-forth between Microsoft (News - Alert) and a website called The Daily. The Daily first reported this week that Microsoft is bringing its Office platform to the iPad, and that Microsoft may be bringing its Windows 8 software as well.

After the Microsoft PR team’s curious denial, hinting there would be no version of Office coming to the iPad in “coming weeks,” the Daily released another statement to clear the air for both of them:

“We did not fabricate this story, nor did we fake the images in any way. A Microsoft employee, not a contractor, demoed a prototype of the app for us. We were repeatedly told that it was not the final build and we did not report it as such, which is probably why Microsoft has said that it isn’t their software.”

The report then further goes on to explain that another source close to the situation claimed repeatedly that that Office for the iPad is on its way. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has release an application for the iPad. In December it released a handful of new applications to the Apple (News - Alert) community including its Skydrive cloud computing service and its OneNote productivity solution, both of which were only seen and accessible on Windows products.

One clear answer to why Microsoft is collaborating with Apple’s iPad division is to get its products more exposure before a major launch.  As other tablet distributors begin to struggle, it makes sense for a company like Microsoft, which is not as dominant in the tablet market, to use the iPad to launch its application.

If Microsoft can get iPad users to download, use and review their app, it could create some general buzz around product and when it is released on all platforms, curious consumers will already have an idea of what they would get out of the product. But, that is my take, why do you think Microsoft is releasing Office on the iPad?