Microsoft’s anticipated launch of Office for Apple’s iPad “couldn’t be more timely”, as consumers spend more time using productivity apps, according to analytics firm Flurry.

According to the company’s research for the January to March 2014 period, consumers are spending 119 per cent more time using productivity apps than they did a year ago. This growth rate eclipsed other categories such as messaging, games and news.

Flurry said the actual numbers are “still relatively low”, as the average US consumer spent five-and-a-half minutes per day in productivity apps. This takes into account the relatively low penetration of such titles in general.

But the growth in use “is still significant and indicates a shift in consumer behaviour”, as applications such as Evernote and Dropbox gain traction and new apps such as Quip, Slack and Acompli are “ushering a new era of mobile-first productivity applications”.

“Continued innovation and growth in this category will accelerate the adoption of productivity apps on tablets and phones, and spell further doom for the PC industry,” Flurry suggested.