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Sears selling a series of 'iWork' toolkits and tool sets
Sears is selling several tool sets and toolkits with the "IWORK" branding. While the product listings may try to deviate slightly from the Apple naming convention by using an initial capital "I," the branding on the individual tools is clearly written as "iWork," an exact copy of Apple's office suite. Ironically, Sears also lists the authentic Apple iWork '09 on its website and sells it through a third-party reseller. A search for the term "iWork" places Apple's product half way down the page in the #12 spot. The top 11 are occupied by Sears' latest line of tools. These tools are recent additions to the Sears catalog, so they do not pre-date the Apple office suite, which made its debut in 2005. Apple has also held the trademark for IWORK since 2008, but it was for software-only, not hardware like these tools. It seems like Sears is just cashing in on the naming convention and possibly luring some Apple fans as a result. [It's worth mentioning that Apple has been on the other side of this "who cares if there's another product with the same name?" divide before, with a rather high-profile product introduction: the company branded the iPhone even though Cisco already had some claim to that name. Except with iPhone both were phones. –Ed.] Update: As Sears and Kmart merged in 2005, these are also available at Kmart. [Via Obamapacman and Sears]
DropDAV: An easy way to link iWork for iPad and Dropbox
iWork for iPad is an incredibly powerful tool for folks who want to use their iPads as a MacBook Air surrogate. However, if they want to round-trip their documents through the popular Dropbox service, there hasn't been a way to save or open files from within Pages, Keynote, or Numbers for iPad. Until now, that is... DropDAV is a new service from smiles + laughs that provides a WebDAV front end to Dropbox. What that means is that any iPad or iPhone application that can open or save files through WebDAV can now link straight to Dropbox. Since iWork for iPad has always had WebDAV capabilities built-in, DropDAV provides the long-needed door between iWork and Dropbox. To sign up for DropDAV, you just need to have a Dropbox account. DropDAV provides a 14-day free trial; after that time, the cost of DropDAV is 30% of your Dropbox account price. If you have a 2 GB free account with Dropbox, your DropDAV service will be free. Hit the link below to see how it all works.
All signs point to January 6th launch of iWork '11
According to 9to5 Mac, retail copies of iWork '09 are running low at Apple Retail Stores. As one Apple retail employee told 9to5, "There is no iWork on the shelves, no iWork in stock and none on the way." That alone is a pretty good sign Apple's office suite is about to be updated, but there's even more. As you can see from the image to the right, type in "iWork" in the search field on Apple.com and the site will autocomplete "iWork '11." Signs really don't get clearer than that. So why January 6th? Because that's the official launch date of the Mac App Store and it's unlikely that Apple would launch a Mac App Store without having a few new, shiny Apple-branded apps that appeal to a lot of people to kick things off. Plus ever since Apple previewed the Mac App Store back in October, the iWork apps have featured in all the official mock-ups of the store front. iWork '09, the latest version of the software suite, was released on January 6, 2009. Nice coincidence, huh?
Microsoft Office or iWork, that is the question
No doubt about it: Microsoft Office is the 800-pound gorilla of productivity suites, both on the Mac and on Windows. In the latest version, Office 2011, the product teams have added lots of zing both in performance and features. Question is, can you go with alternatives? In particular, what about iWork? The answer is, it depends on the apps that you'll be using, the level of functionality you want from them, how you work and who you collaborate with. As there are great deals to be had today on Office ($80 for Home/Student, which only lacks Outlook vs. the Business edition), it's worth thinking about the match-up. [There are other commercial options, like Mariner Write/Calc, open-source alternatives like KOffice, NeoOffice and Open Office.org, and of course, cloud apps like ThinkFree, SlideRocket and Google Docs. Today we're talking iWork. –Ed.] For basic word processing, Pages is up to the task against Microsoft Word. Sure, things are in different places and the lingo may not be as familiar, and that may take some time getting used to. However, if the end goal is to get your thoughts on paper and to have the flexibility to format these words the way you want to, Pages will do the job. And if you need page layout flexibility, Pages' page layout tools makes for a more elegant and easy-to-use solution for documents that require you to position things around.
iWork suite gains iOS 4.2 support on iPad
The iWork productivity suite for iPad is receiving significant upgrades to coincide with the release of iOS 4.2, Macworld reports. Most significantly, the three iWork tools (Numbers, Keynotes, and Pages) will support multitasking on the iPad. Multitasking in 4.2 will already be familiar to many iPhone users. When you switch away from one of the iWork applications, the iPad will save the state of your work in iWork. When you come back to that application later, you'll be able to resume right where you left off. iWork has many other updates. The Tools menus have been simplified and now support AirPrint. PDFs should be more reliable when created in iWork, fixing a font compatibility issue. Keynote now supports more presenter-display functionality, allowing a presenter to see notes and slide information on their iPad without that view also being sent to the presentation projector. Keynote should also be more reliable when importing from PowerPoint and Keynote '09. Numbers is updated to allow you to preview how your spreadsheet will print when using multiple pages, but now it also includes an AutoFit function. There are many usability upgrades to Numbers and Pages which add up to really making the iWork apps a much more functional productivity suite. These iWork updates should be available today (November 22), coinciding with the release of iOS 4.2.
Steve-mail says Keynote '11 to have AirPlay, Apple TV capabilities
TUAW received a tip from reader Jared today, who sent us a copy of an email sent to him from Steve Jobs in response to a question he had asked. We verified the email headers, and it looks like the real thing. In his email to Jobs, Jared asked if the new Apple TV would accept presentations via an iOS device or a Mac, and told his Steveness "if it will, I will go buy two at an apple store tonight." Jobs replied, "It's all coming soon. Stay tuned." As Jared pointed out, this could explain why iWork '11 was not included in the Back to the Mac presentation in October. The software suite, which is made up of Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, might be ready to roll except for the ability to beam Keynote presentations to the Apple TV via WiFi. If that's the case, we may see a release of iWork '11 soon.
iWork '11 may wait for the Mac App Store
Plenty of people, including some of us at TUAW, thought an updated iWork suite would debut alongside iLife at the recent "Back to the Mac" event. iWork was a no-show at that event, however, and AppleInsider claims it's because Apple is holding off on a release of iWork '11 until the launch of the Mac App Store in January. AppleInsider notes that images shown during the event showed each iWork application available for individual purchase at US$19.99 each on the Mac App Store. Even purchased separately at this price, the three applications that make up Apple's iWork suite (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers) would cost less than Apple's current $79 price for the iWork '09 bundle. Precedent exists in this area: iPad versions of Apple's iWork apps are available for $9.99 each on the App Store. It's possible that Apple could be going digital-only for iWork '11 and selling it exclusively as a means of "eating its own dog food" -- by committing to selling its own iWork applications exclusively via the Mac App Store, Apple would demonstrate that it has confidence in the endeavor. This is a change I'd welcome, personally; while I use Pages every day, I use Keynote only a few times per year, and I've launched Numbers maybe once or twice since buying iWork. Paying $40 for one essential app and one "nice to have if I need it" app is a lot easier to swallow than paying $79 for the entire suite. For that reason alone, I'm looking forward to the Mac App Store.
Auto-updating charts with Numbers and Keynote
If you find yourself making the charts for your presentations in Numbers and would like an easy way to update them, the chart updating feature in Keynote does just that. With a simple click, your chart in Keynote is updated to reflect changes made in your Numbers spreadsheet. This feature requires that you start your workflow in Numbers. After creating a chart, copy and paste it over to a slide in Keynote. Now, whenever you click on the chart in your Keynote presentation, a button will appear atop of it. Clicking on the arrow with the two circles on it will update the chart with figures from Numbers. Alternatively, you can click on the "edit data" button (after clicking on the chart) and then "update all" within the data table. However, it's important to note that you must save the Numbers file first before doing this. Otherwise, the changes won't carry over.
Apple's example Mac app prices land around $15-20
Reader Shane did a little zoom and enhance on Apple's promo image for the Mac App Store, and divined some potential prices for Apple's official apps. These same apps are the ones that set the pricing bar on the iPad, and so if these are real (and not just photoshopped in), then they're the first official indication we've gotten of just where Apple imagines pricing should be on the App Store. And where is that? Turns out they're pretty close to current software prices -- the iLife apps are priced out at $15, while the iWork apps are priced at $20, and when you add them all up, they cost about the same as the bundles you can buy in the Apple retail store. There's also a few other titles (which appear to be just placeholders, not official Apple software, unless they're going to premiere some new apps with the App Store) at various prices. There's a dice game called Roll 'Em which is priced for free, an app called Color Studio at $29.99, and another game called Fast Lane priced at just $4.99. So as you might expect, there will be prices all over the place. Just like the iOS App Store, developers will probably come up with all sorts of ways to fund and profit from their apps, so I'm sure we'll see some popular free games as well as premium specialized apps. But it sounds like Apple is aiming to hit about $15-20 for a standard full-featured Mac app. The question, then, will be what customers are willing to pay -- obviously each app is different, and each customer has their own priorities, but it'll be very interesting to see, as the Mac App Store debuts, just what happens to prices on this software.
Apple's MobileMe News details how iWork for iPad works with iDisk
iWork for iPad was updated yesterday with many changes, one of those being that the mobile app suite now includes integration with the MobileMe iDisk. What does that mean for iPad users who use Pages, Numbers, and Keynote? You can save your documents to the iDisk and then open them either from the iPad or any other internet-attached Mac or Windows machine. The details were posted on MobileMe News, the blog of the MobileMe team. Windows users can point a browser to me.com/idisk and upload existing Microsoft Office documents. Once the documents are in the cloud, they can be opened from the iPad for viewing or editing. Once work has been completed on the documents, they can be saved back to the iDisk as iWork, Microsoft Office, or PDF files. It would be nice if iWork for iPad also supported Dropbox or Box.net, but for the time being, it's good to see that Apple has added support for their own cloud storage solution. [via TiPB]
Apple updates iWork for iPad
A couple of nice iWork for iPad updates are out on the store today bringing a boatload of new features. Numbers, now at version 1.2, introduces improved exports, object grouping and ungrouping, and better hyperlinks, among other new features. Pages, also updated to version 1.2, provides WebDAV and MobileMe iDisk support, txt file compatibility, and many performance enhancements. The third member of the iWork family, Keynote, has added new animations, the ability to group and animate objects, and export to PowerPoint. Pages, Numbers, and Keynote cost $9.99 each on App Store. Updates are free. Thanks, Ben
Coming up at 5 PM EDT: TUAW TV Live
It's hard to believe, but TUAW TV Live has been appearing on your screens just about every Wednesday for 10 months now. I want to thank all of you who have joined in every week for an hour of discovery and discussion; you've made it a pleasure to produce the show. This week, I'll be talking about a variety of topics: what would be good to see in iWork and iLife updates, iPad and iPhone apps (both good and bad), more iPad and iPhone cases, a demo of how to quickly make an e-book that will work in iBooks, and additional topics as well. And we'll even have some fun giveaways on today's show. To watch and participate in today's show, just come back to TUAW at about 5 PM EDT (2 PM PDT), and I'll have full instructions on how to view the livestream and use the chat.
iWork Update 9.0.4 brings ePub file support to Pages, fixes bugs
A new update to iWork is providing some fixes to bugs (primarily with tables) in Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, but also provides a new export option that makes Pages documents compatible with iBooks. The iWork 9.0.4 update is recommended for anyone using iWork 9.0 - 9.0.3. The fixes for Keynote include patching an issue that occurred when printing handouts with rule lines, resolving a problem with the slide switcher, and also fixes an issue when automatically resizing some images when changing the size of a slide. Pages received the fix for tables, as well as the ePub export option. Numbers was impacted the least, with only the table fix being applied to the app. The update is available via Software Update or can be downloaded from the Apple Support Downloads page. It's about 71.2 MB in size via Software Update. There's also a MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update for mid-2010 15-inch and 17-inch models. Thanks to Michael K. for the tip!
Pages for iPhone screenshots?
It seems that Apple is working to bring the iWork apps to the iPhone. Now available for the iPad, Keynote, Pages and Numbers were among the top sellers for many weeks after their release, making some users eager for iPhone editions. While browsing the Canadian online Apple Store, Engadget noticed that, if you select an unlocked iPhone, you see a blurb about "iWork for iPhone." Not to mention the "Open in Keynote" prompt that appeared in Mail. 9to5 Mac ups the ante with alleged screenshots of a beta of Pages for the iPhone. Citing a "tipster," 9to5 reports that the apps will be universal and work across devices. Make sense to us, though I don't know if I'd be willing to scale down to that small screen after using Pages, etc. on an iPad.
Pages for iPhone gets a full walkthrough
We've been seeing hints here and there that the iPad versions of Apple's iWork apps will eventually trickle down to the iPhone and iPod touch, and now it looks like we've got some definitive proof: 9to5 Mac has published a thorough screenshot walkthrough of Pages. As you'd expect, it looks a lot like a smaller version of Pages for the iPad, but there are some interesting tidbits here and there: all documents sync over the air with all your iOS devices, there's integration with the oft-forgotten iWork.com, and you can export in .doc and PDF in addition to Pages format. Interesting stuff, to say the least -- hit the read link for the complete set of shots.
iWork for iPhone revealed by AppleCare product description?
AppleCare Protection Plan may cover certain types of damage, but it sure didn't stop up today's alleged leak -- if you pick an unlocked iPhone at the online Apple Store for Canada, Australia or the UK today and click the "Learn more" button on the AppleCare option, you'll be treated to this "iWork for iPhone" containing screen. Coupled with the "Open in Keynote" prompt we saw a few weeks back, we may picking up the crumbs of a real app here, even if productivity isn't the first thing that comes to mind when fondling that Retina Display.
Apple screenshot confirms iWork coming to iPhone
Well well, what's this? Our pal Stuart Miles at Pocket-lint spotted an interesting detail on one of Apple's iPhone 4 screenshots: an "Open in 'Keynote'" button while viewing an attachment in Mail. It's since been replaced by a shot that reads "Open in 'iBooks'," but it certainly seems like the iWork suite will eventually make it across the iOS range from the iPad. While we're not going to pretend like that's nearly as big a deal as Microsoft integrating Office into Windows Phone 7, it's still a welcome move, as we know more than a few people who'd like to make some work-type edits on the go. Why we didn't get a peek at this today we don't know, but we've got a feeling we'll hear more about it as June 21 gets nearer.
Is the iWork suite en route to iPhone?
Looking for more good news on the iPhone 4 front? Our eagle-eyed tipster iJcaP points out something that MacRumors also noted: on the iPhone 4 features page for Mail, a screenshot at the bottom lets a fairly large cat out of the bag. The picture shows an option to open a Keynote file... in Keynote. That, of course, implies a version of the iWork suite for the iPhone -- currently only available for the iPad. Screenshot mixup, or true vision of the future? Sure would be another nice thing to have for the iOS 4 launch and iPhone 4 availability, dontcha think? Update: The screenshot has been tweaked -- see the 2nd half of this post. It now says "Open in 'iBooks'" which is a trifle odd considering the email still refers to a presentation. Seems like this is not Apple's day for keeping things under wraps.
Dear Aunt TUAW: Transferring iWork files from iPad without iTunes
Dearest Aunt TUAW, Is there a way to transfer files from apps like Keynote and Pages to a computer that does not have iTunes installed? Yours truly, Nephew Jack Read on for Auntie's answer.
Estimates: iWork for iPad is a giant cash cow for Apple
The folks at Business Insider (BI) are reporting that Apple's iWork apps for iPad -- Pages, Keynote and Numbers -- have likely generated US$3 million in revenue since the iPad was launched in the US. If the trend continues, the apps could bring in $40 million per year. Where did BI get their numbers? Some broad assumptions, honestly. Discussions with developers who consistently have apps in the top ten suggested that top paid iPad apps will sell about 7,500 copies on a Saturday or Sunday, and about 2,500 on a weekday. At $10/each, that works out to approximately $825,000 per week. Admittedly, it's "a very rough estimate." The iWork apps have been among the top 10 paid apps since the iPad's release in the US. An estimate, yes, but it does illustrate an important point: users want "serious" work apps for the iPad. Sure, the initial user base was largely fans who already enjoy the iWork apps, but that fact that those apps are still among the top ten suggest that customers other than the fanboys are buying. Not bad for three productivity apps on a platform that "won't mean business." [Via AppleInsider]
