Microsoft has seen more than 27 million downloads of its Office for iPad apps, just six weeks after they were launched.

Julia White, general manager of Office, revealed the milestone for the iPad versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint at Microsoft’s TechEd customer conference.

The Office team revealed on Twitter that 12 million downloads had been reached on 3 April, just a week after launch. The products also topped the download charts in more than a hundred markets and headed the revenue charts in several countries.

Although no longer ranking as highly in terms of downloads, 15 million downloads in five weeks suggests the iPad-optimised software is still proving popular.

When Microsoft announced the long-anticipated launch of the productivity apps for the iPad, it said they had been built from the ground up “factoring in the unique nature of touch and functionality” of the Apple tablet.

The Office for iPad apps are free to download but only offer limited functionality unless users subscribe to the Office 365 cloud-based service, starting at $99 per year.

Shortly before the launch, analytics firm Flurry said the launch of Office for iPad “couldn’t be more timely”, as consumers spend an increasing amount of time using productivity apps.

A Morgan Stanley analyst said in February last year that Microsoft is losing out on “billions” in revenue by not offering a paid version of Office for the iPad.