"We don’t have our heads in the sand," was Steve Ballmer's response, when asked if Microsoft would shift products to non-Windows platforms.

Giving his biggest hint yet that Microsoft Office could soon move to iPad and Android tablets, the Redmond CEO said:

“Our devices carry our services, and our services will be available on a number of people’s devices.

"What I'm telling you is we're going to integrate our services with our devices, [but] we'll also make our services available on other people's devices, both to the consumer and to the enterprise."

But while not officially mentioning iPad or Android in his comments, speaking at a Microsoft event with Wall Street analysts, Ballmer continued:

"Now, how do we get our services to be popular on non-Windows devices?

"With the enterprise we kind of know how to do that.

"You walk into the enterprise, you say sign up for Office 365, you say we're going to embrace your iPads and your iPhones, and blah-de, blah-de, blah.

"We know how to do that. We know how to get paid. Life feels pretty straightforward."