The two top mobile office application companies, DataViz and QuickOffice, have revealed upgrades to their Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint compatible application suites within a week of each other. For DataViz, this means a new version of Documents To Go is in the works for the Palm OS, while Symbian-based S60 interface smartphone owners can look forward to an enhanced edition of QuickOffice’s eponymous software.

As with most mobile office applications, Dataviz Documents To Go started on the Palm OS but has since expanded to another platform, Symbian. It is still the most popular solution for those who want to view, edit and sync their Microsoft Office files on Palm-based PDA and smartphone, however, and Palm, Inc. bundles Documents To Go with its devices.

DataViz says it plans to upgrade the software from version 8 to 9 before the end of the year – no exact date was given - with a number of new features and improvements. These will include the addition of a File Explorer for easier access to files and, finally, the ability to edit PowerPoint files natively in Slideshow To Go, something which you could do with the Word and Excel files for a longtime now.

The other Documents To Go applications have been enhanced as well. PDF To Go has been optimized for improved speed. In Word To Go users can now view a table of content, as well as view and edit footnotes, endnotes, comments and text boxes. Sheet To Go now supports XY scatter plot charting and additional cell formatting.

When Documents To Go v9 is released current customers will receive an e-mail notification. The upgrade will be free to those who bought version 8 after October 1st.

DataViz competitor QuickOffice has introduced an upgrade to its eponymous mobile office application for Symbian-based S60 interface, the most popular smartphone platform in the world. Version 3.1 adds a Quickmanager feature to enable users to purchase product updates and keep upgrades current on their handsets.

Version 3.1 is said to deliver improvements in speed and memory usage to allow work more efficiently with larger documents. Like Documents To Go, QuickOffice 3.1 allows users to view Microsoft Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations on their smartphone. Unlike the other application, however, they can’t edit the files.

That's where Quickmanager enters the picture. Should users decide they want to edit as well view these files, Quickmanager lets them upgrade to the Premier version of QuickOffice, which delivers viewing and editing capabilities, directly from their smartphone over-the-air. The company says billing and installation often takes less than a minute.

A number of handset manufacturer's bundle QuickOffice, which is available in 41 languages, with their devices. These include Nokia, who is offering it with the new E50 and other smartphones for example, and Sony Ericsson, which ships the Office suite with the P990i, for instance, among other handsets.