Microsoft Corp. may or may not be developing Office software for Apple Inc.'s iPad, depending whom you ask.

The tech publication The Daily reports that a Microsoft Office app for the iPad could soon be released. But according to The New York Times, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) denies that it has plans to release software for Apple's iPad.

The Daily's report cites unnames sources who "say that the app will soon be submitted to Apple for approval." But in the very next paragraph, the reporter, Matt Hickey, writes in a way that makes it unclear whether he has seen the software himself or is paraphrasing a description he received from someone else:

A brief hands-on with a working prototype of the software revealed a number of new things. The app’s user interface is similar to the current OneNote app, but it has hints of Metro, the new design language that can be seen in Windows Phone and in the as-yet-released Windows 8 desktop operating system.

Rumors of an iPad Office release surfaced in November – also from The Daily – and caused speculation about whether the move could cut into sales of standalone Office software.

Windows and Office continue to be the Microsoft's cash cows, with Office bringing in some $15 billion or more in revenue in 2011. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said last year that 100 million copies of Office 2010 are in use.

One question voiced in November was whether expanding Office to other platforms would harm or boost those Office sales. A suggestion tossed out by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley was that Microsoft could offer a stripped down, ad-supported version of Office and Excel with the hope that consumers would eventually upgrade to the full version of the software.