Apple's iWork '11 suite tracking for release alongside Mac App Store

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
The next major revamp of Apple's iWork productivity suite is finished and ready to go, but the company may hold back the release until it gets around to launching the Mac App Store early next year, AppleInsider has been told.



People familiar with the matter say development of iWork '11 wrapped up this fall and the software was initially slated for an introduction alongside iLife '11 last month, but was held back at the last minute for undisclosed reasons.



Apple's revised plans currently call for the company to launch the new productivity suite alongside the forthcoming Mac App Store, these same people say. The applications included in the bundle -- Pages, Numbers and Keynote -- will be available for purchase individually when the Mac App Store debuts.



Those familiar with the matter said it remains undecided whether Apple will also release a retail box version of the iWork suite, as it has been sold previously. Alternatively, it could become the first piece of major Mac software from the Cupertino-based company to be available exclusively online.



Last month, visual cues presented during Apple's "Back to the Mac" media event suggested that it would sell the iWork and iLife suite applications individually on the Mac App Store. Images of the forthcoming software download destination included the ability to purchase iWork apps for $19.99 each, while iLife applications were shown at $14.99.



While Apple highlighted updates to GarageBand, iMovie and iPhoto at the event, no mentions of iWork were made. The same event saw the announcement of the Mac App Store, which is scheduled to launch before the end of January 2011. Like the App Store on iOS devices, it will allow users to download and install software with just one click. Developers will take a 70 percent cut of sales, while Apple will retain 30 percent.







Apple began the sale of mobile versions of the iWork suite applications individually earlier this year, when Pages, Keynote and Numbers debuted on the iPad. Priced at $9.99 each, the multi-touch versions of iWork have consistently been among the top grossing options on the iPad App Store.



Though Apple has not yet announced a firm launch date for the Mac App Store, it has already begun accepting submissions for the digital service. Like with the existing App Store for the iPhone and iPad, software will be hosted and licensed by Apple.



The current version, iWork '09, was released in January of 2009 and sells for $79 as a standalone product, or $49 with the purchase of any Mac. It was introduced alongside iWork.com, Apple's online document sharing service.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 116
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    ...launching the Mac App Store early next year...



    Whoa, whoa, whoa. "Within 90 days" doesn't instantly mean "next year". I'm still hoping for a late November/early December launch. Perfect for the holidays.



    Quote:

    ...held back at the last minute for undisclosed reasons.



    Nonsense. That's the reason.
  • Reply 2 of 116
    gamringamrin Posts: 114member
    Yay! I can't wait for a new iWork suite. I'm anxious to see what tweaks Apple's made to Pages. It's let me entirely drop Word since 2008. Now if Adobe will just make an import filter for placing Pages text into InDesign...
  • Reply 3 of 116
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The next major revamp of Apple's iWork productivity suite is finished and ready to go, but the company may hold back the release until it gets around to launching the Mac App Store early next year, AppleInsider has been told. ...



    They need to spend some time updating the iOS version of these apps first. Apple released the iPad with beta-quality versions of these apps, the only update they have had restores *basic* functionality only.



    How about making a version of Pages for iPad that can actually be used for serious work? Anything more than a very casual edit of a stray document once in a while is completely out of reach at this point.



    How about the capability to edit styles or create them? How about the ability to simply change the colour or font of the text in a document without going through ten swipes and pokes? Word counts? Section breaks? How about the ability to do almost anything besides very basic typing, on documents that all had to be created on other platforms in the first place? Pages (and the other iOS apps), are okay in a pinch, but when are they thinking of making them work like proper applications?
  • Reply 4 of 116
    In the past there was an export option in Keynote to save as Flash. The current version of Keynote is lacking this sorely.

    I hope that there will be an export option to save Keynote presentations as HTML5/javascript. That would be great! The first easy to use HTML5 creation tool....
  • Reply 5 of 116
    29922992 Posts: 202member
    let's see it versus office 2011, then I'll know what to choose.
  • Reply 6 of 116
    I love Pages, iPhoto and iWeb. And would most likely order just those two when available individually.



    As much as I like numbers...who really wants to work spreadsheets all day? Ughh!



    The less I have to be at my computer the better. I will be fine with my iPhone 4 and an iPad.



    Can't wait.



    Best



    PS. I have Office 2008 and never open it.



    PSS. What do you guys and gals think? 2992, allblue, applestockholder, Asmodai, diddy, fh-ace, Gamrin, Goldenclaw, Jsyedinak, kube, Londor, ollebolle, Prof. Peabody, RPT, sflocal, sgginc, skeedadell, Tallest Skil, Touche, tzb
  • Reply 7 of 116
    There is no doubt that these apps will bring visitors to the Mac App Store.



    I am curious about the new features of iWork. Coming from a school setting, the lack of any integrated artwork for Pages and Keynote has been a real negative. The ability to get clip art via AppleWorks was turned off this past summer.



    Not that we can really afford new software, but hey, it's nice to dream.
  • Reply 8 of 116
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by applestockholder View Post


    In the past there was an export option in Keynote to save as Flash. The current version of Keynote is lacking this sorely.

    I hope that there will be an export option to save Keynote presentations as HTML5/javascript. That would be great! The first easy to use HTML5 creation tool....



    What? When?! QuickTime, PowerPoint, PDF, web pages, and images. FLASH?! I don't think so.
  • Reply 9 of 116
    oh give me a break. if they're ready then release them.
  • Reply 10 of 116
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by applestockholder View Post


    In the past there was an export option in Keynote to save as Flash. The current version of Keynote is lacking this sorely.

    I hope that there will be an export option to save Keynote presentations as HTML5/javascript. That would be great! The first easy to use HTML5 creation tool....



    Good call. Probably not many used the Flash export in Keynote, though I did use it to create a Flash web site. A nice trick. With limitations it worked pretty well. I keep my old version of Keynote around just in case I want to try it again. I was surprised to see Flash export deleted in from iWork '09. Was this the first indication of a breakdown in relations between Apple and Adobe?
  • Reply 11 of 116
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    They need to spend some time updating the iOS version of these apps first. Apple released the iPad with beta-quality versions of these apps, the only update they have had restores *basic* functionality only.



    iPad simply doesn't have enough RAM to run anything but trivial apps well. I know people don't want to hear that but at best you have about 120MB of RAM for apps on the iPad. That really isn't much.

    Quote:

    How about making a version of Pages for iPad that can actually be used for serious work? Anything more than a very casual edit of a stray document once in a while is completely out of reach at this point.



    My guess is this will be resolved with a software release that targets iPad 2

    Quote:

    How about the capability to edit styles or create them? How about the ability to simply change the colour or font of the text in a document without going through ten swipes and pokes? Word counts? Section breaks? How about the ability to do almost anything besides very basic typing, on documents that all had to be created on other platforms in the first place? Pages (and the other iOS apps), are okay in a pinch, but when are they thinking of making them work like proper applications?



    I don't think the intention was to make them be "proper applications", rather it was an attempt to put tools on the platform to work with documents created else where. You have to remember the iPad has an extremely slow CPU, it will be very difficult to keep the app responsive while trying to do everything a desktop app does.



    By the way every time I say the iPad has a slow CPU there are always a bunch of people that want to jump on me and go on at length about how fast their iPad is. It isn't folks, anything that is CPU bound runs at a crawl on the machine.
  • Reply 12 of 116
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by 2992 View Post


    let's see it versus office 2011, then I'll know what to choose.



    Try Office 2004; There hasn't been more than a handful of useful new features in the last 3 releases of office - combined.



    Still, I'm waiting, too. iWork 09 was OK, but not quite there yet in a few key areas, so I still can't dump office completely...
  • Reply 13 of 116
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    By the way every time I say the iPad has a slow CPU there are always a bunch of people that want to jump on me and go on at length about how fast their iPad is. It isn't folks, anything that is CPU bound runs at a crawl on the machine.



    If you don't want to hear about how fast the iPad runs, then how about some examples of apps that crawl on the iPad. I haven't found one yet.



    BTW having used Keynote and Pages on the iPad for real-world purposes, I would not call them trivial. They are not their desktop equivalents, but that does not translate into uselessness.
  • Reply 14 of 116
    edorfedorf Posts: 29member
    My business want a stronger iWork that i.e. can handle simple things as printing lables from numbers. Now I have to move my 35.000 "records" to address book to make my lables. Not smart!



    We will have to move all our users to Office2011 if iWork cant provide us with more power. Hope to see a solution soon, very soon Mr Jobs
  • Reply 15 of 116
    jetlawjetlaw Posts: 156member
    I have recently liberated myself from Office altogether, and my job requires me to produce and revise complex documents that are distributed over lots of platforms. I couldn't be happier, and can't imagine going back.



    The only reason I waited so long is because I just assumed that I needed to be using Word. When I finally tried to rid myself of it after seeing how uninterested I was in Office '11, I was shocked at what a non-event it was.



    One feature that I hope arrives, however: the ability to File-->Send in Mail a document in DOC or PDF format. It doesn't seem like I should have to export as a word file and then drop it into Mail to send a .doc to a colleague.
  • Reply 16 of 116
    Has anyone mentioned the number of installs that you can do with Mac App Store purchases?



    For my $19.95 iWork app for Mac, do I get to install this on one computer, or five like the iOS app purchases?
  • Reply 17 of 116
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jetlaw View Post


    One feature that I hope arrives, however: the ability to File-->Send in Mail a document in DOC or PDF format. It doesn't seem like I should have to export as a word file and then drop it into Mail to send a .doc to a colleague.



    You can do that now, but it's under the Share menu. The options are Pages, Word, or PDF.
  • Reply 18 of 116
    penchantedpenchanted Posts: 1,070member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    People familiar with the matter say development of iWork '11 wrapped up this fall and the software was initially slated for an introduction alongside iLife '11 last month, but was held back at the last minute for undisclosed reasons.



    Apple should be trying to sync the release of iLife and iWork and offer a reduced price bundle. This would probably encourage further adoption of iWork.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Those familiar with the matter said it remains undecided whether Apple will also release a retail box version of the iWork suite, as it has been sold previously. Alternatively, it could become the first piece of major Mac software from the Cupertino-based company to be available exclusively online.



    I wonder what they will offer for those of us who currently buy family packs. I know they said that the software could be downloaded to other computers using the same AppleID, but what of us who have family members who use their own AppleIDs? I'll be pretty unhappy if I have to purchase the software for each of four family members.
  • Reply 19 of 116
    Am I wierd for being excited about the Mac App Store? I've found so much cool stuff on the iPhone App Store that I'm sure my Mac experience is going to be improved with stuff I can find the same way.
  • Reply 20 of 116
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PaulMJohnson View Post


    Am I wierd for being excited about the Mac App Store? I've found so much cool stuff on the iPhone App Store that I'm sure my Mac experience is going to be improved with stuff I can find the same way.



    Interesting, Paul...what are your favorite 5 iPhone Apps?



    Best



    Mine are...Dropbox app, Chase app, ATT app, TuneIn Radio (NPR/FM), RedBox, NikePlus, Financial Times, iBooks...
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