Sales of Apple's iWork office suite surge 50% in 2009
Apple's iWork software suite, in both standalone and box set SKUs, had a strong 2009, particularly in the wake of the launch of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in August.
According to the NPD Group, iWork 2009 sold 50 percent more units in its first 11 months on the market, from January to November 2009, than its predecessor, iWork 2008, sold in the same frame. iLife 2009, during the 11-month frame, sold about the same number of units as iLife 2008. iLife is included with all new Macs.
Both can also be purchased along with the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard upgrade in a $169 box set for a single user, or $229 family pack. Volume increases for iWork and iLife do not include the bundle pack sales.
But the strength of Snow Leopard has helped the box set to have strong sales as well, Steven Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, told AppleInsider.
"These have been, I think, pretty successful products for them (Apple), generating a lot of pretty decent average selling prices and decent revenue numbers," Baker said.
In addition, the single-user license box sets for iWork have been a big seller for Apple. iWork and iLife are available separately with a $79 single user license for each, or a $99 family pack that can be installed on up to five computers.
When it debuted in August, Snow Leopard retailed for just $29. The lower pricing strategy has proved well for Apple
"They've been pretty successful, obviously, with being more aggressive in pricing," Baker said. "Certainly that was a big reason why Snow Leopard got such a big uptick right off the bat."
At launch, Snow Leopard saw sales twice as strong as its predecessor, Leopard, and four times better than Tiger. In addition, Apple's new operating system only saw sales decrease by 25 percent in its second week. For comparison, Leopard and Tiger saw sales drop more than 60 percent in the week following their launch. In the company's earnings report in October, Apple officials noted they were "pleasantly surprised by the early success of Snow Leopard.
According to the NPD Group, iWork 2009 sold 50 percent more units in its first 11 months on the market, from January to November 2009, than its predecessor, iWork 2008, sold in the same frame. iLife 2009, during the 11-month frame, sold about the same number of units as iLife 2008. iLife is included with all new Macs.
Both can also be purchased along with the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard upgrade in a $169 box set for a single user, or $229 family pack. Volume increases for iWork and iLife do not include the bundle pack sales.
But the strength of Snow Leopard has helped the box set to have strong sales as well, Steven Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, told AppleInsider.
"These have been, I think, pretty successful products for them (Apple), generating a lot of pretty decent average selling prices and decent revenue numbers," Baker said.
In addition, the single-user license box sets for iWork have been a big seller for Apple. iWork and iLife are available separately with a $79 single user license for each, or a $99 family pack that can be installed on up to five computers.
When it debuted in August, Snow Leopard retailed for just $29. The lower pricing strategy has proved well for Apple
"They've been pretty successful, obviously, with being more aggressive in pricing," Baker said. "Certainly that was a big reason why Snow Leopard got such a big uptick right off the bat."
At launch, Snow Leopard saw sales twice as strong as its predecessor, Leopard, and four times better than Tiger. In addition, Apple's new operating system only saw sales decrease by 25 percent in its second week. For comparison, Leopard and Tiger saw sales drop more than 60 percent in the week following their launch. In the company's earnings report in October, Apple officials noted they were "pleasantly surprised by the early success of Snow Leopard.
Comments
Simple statistics.
That said, I still like iWork much better than Microsoft's Office.
The current version of Word is really great, in fact. The addition of source management over the last couple versions has been a godsend.
This is only 1/3 of the normal price of the cheapest version of Office.
I've grown up using Office, of course, so I've just never seen the need to switch to iWork, even as I've become a Mac user exclusively. Why switch when I already know Word/Excel inside-out, forwards and backwards?
The current version of Word is really great, in fact. The addition of source management over the last couple versions has been a godsend.
I grew with office too but have switched to iWork, except some excel bits. Much better and lighter.
Apple should put the extra effort in because this is the best office replacement.
I grew with office too but have switched to iWork, except some excel bits. Much better and lighter.
Apple should put the extra effort in because this is the best office replacement.
better is a relative term. there are things that my job cannot be done without some of the features office has, or if it can be done, its much much harder without the functions office has built in.
while it is good there is a office alternative other than openoffice, it still needs to be much improved upon. maybe apple will build upon it and make it a great office suite.
I'd personally prefer of the next OS was $149 and bundled iWork into the OS.
That wont fly in either US or Europe.
I know Apple is no Microsoft, but why should Apple even risk getting sued?
I want them to support ODF in next release of iWork. Even Microsoft is supporting it now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDoc...dwide_adoption
I hope they continue to update iWork to be better compatible with MS Office, though.
Not ME! I hope Apple continues to make iWork just a elegant and continues to get more to use it AND I HOPE OFFICE BECOMES MORE COMPATIBLE WITH IWORK!. It is about time Microsoft plays nicer with others!
I hope they continue to update iWork to be better compatible with MS Office, though.
The idea is to ween the world off of Office, not prolong its miserable existence.
I really like the way iWork "works:" clean interface, quick, scroll friendly. I'm still getting used to the Inspector, but I'll get there. I'd like to see more keyboard commands. Having to go to the menu bar for forcing page breaks and the like gets old. Hope Apple keeps up the good work.
In Mac OS, you can make your own keyboard shortcuts for any menu item in any app. Make it really easy to create similar shortcuts in various apps or to create keystrokes for the right or left hand.
Open the System Preferences, Click on Keyboard & Mouse and then Keyboard Shortcuts and then click on the question mark at the bottom to find out how.
Or peek here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.h...6/en/8564.html
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BTW, iWork rocks. I no longer have Office installed on any of my machines; freedom!
I just wish they would add a drawing app so iWork would have the functionality of AppleWorks (RIP).
Why switch when I already know Word/Excel inside-out, forwards and backwards?
why learn anything new, then?
- Jasen.
I got iWork '09 in the Mac Box Set and so far I've enjoyed using it. Pages is very nice and allows one to easily make nice looking documents.
I still look forward to getting deeper into Numbers. Can't wait to see whether it's as deep as Excel is.
I've had several occasions to use Power Point in the recent past, but I haven't had the opportunity to use Keynote yet. I look forward to that as well.
Overall, iWork is a good value, especially if acquired in a Box Set.
At the moment, although Numbers has better charting capabilities, Excel is far superior in its overall functionality and add-ins.
I'd personally prefer of the next OS was $149 and bundled iWork into the OS.
Not gonna happen.
One thing it integrate it with the OS but to make parto fthe OS?
See MS and Internet Explorer.
I'd personally prefer of the next OS was $149 and bundled iWork into the OS.
if that was allowed, MS would cry foul and would be founded in doing so. they got crushed for IE, so would be different if apple did it for iWork?