Though it was expected to be launched during the fall this year, Apple has released beta versions for its iCloud office apps – iWork. While the beta version was previously available only to developers, Apple has now made it accessible to anybody with an Apple ID.
The iWork office suite would contain nine elements - Mail, Contacts, Reminders, Find my iPhone, Pages, Notes, Keynote and Numbers. In a move that would place Apple in direct competition with other cloud applications provided by Google and Microsoft, it aims at combining both native apps and cloud applications into a comprehensive Office suite.
Considering that employees often use a combination of devices like the desktop, laptop, smartphones and tablets, the iWork for iCloud apps support all the major browsers like Safari, Chrome and the Internet Explorer for Macs and PCs. This would enable users to create documents on the web, and they would be automatically synced with other Apple devices like the iPad and iPhone and vice-versa. Apple has also gone ahead and made it easier for Windows users to use its Pages app. The user only has to drag and drop a Word document into the Pages app and the software would automatically convert it into the Pages format.
However what is not clear is the pricing factor, the beta versions are currently free of cost, but the regular version would cost users somewhere around $30 for the Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
This definitely is a tough call for Apple since both Google and Microsoft provide office apps completely free. Another hurdle that the iWork suite has (or let’s say Apple‘s back to its impertinent self again – remember syncing with iTunes for everything and anything), is that users can’t store files in any other format other than those that the apps use. Which means you would require other cloud services to save entire folder of files.
Besides the iWork comes with another price, the price of storage – only 5GB of storage is free on the Apple cloud. An additional 10GB would cost you $21 per year. Whereas Google Drive provides a Whopping 15GB and 7GB on Microsoft SkyDrive.
For now, you can enjoy the free beta version and hope for a better insight on the iWork and iCloud when apple unveils its new iPhone on Sept 10th.
The iWork office suite would contain nine elements - Mail, Contacts, Reminders, Find my iPhone, Pages, Notes, Keynote and Numbers. In a move that would place Apple in direct competition with other cloud applications provided by Google and Microsoft, it aims at combining both native apps and cloud applications into a comprehensive Office suite.
Considering that employees often use a combination of devices like the desktop, laptop, smartphones and tablets, the iWork for iCloud apps support all the major browsers like Safari, Chrome and the Internet Explorer for Macs and PCs. This would enable users to create documents on the web, and they would be automatically synced with other Apple devices like the iPad and iPhone and vice-versa. Apple has also gone ahead and made it easier for Windows users to use its Pages app. The user only has to drag and drop a Word document into the Pages app and the software would automatically convert it into the Pages format.
However what is not clear is the pricing factor, the beta versions are currently free of cost, but the regular version would cost users somewhere around $30 for the Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
This definitely is a tough call for Apple since both Google and Microsoft provide office apps completely free. Another hurdle that the iWork suite has (or let’s say Apple‘s back to its impertinent self again – remember syncing with iTunes for everything and anything), is that users can’t store files in any other format other than those that the apps use. Which means you would require other cloud services to save entire folder of files.
Besides the iWork comes with another price, the price of storage – only 5GB of storage is free on the Apple cloud. An additional 10GB would cost you $21 per year. Whereas Google Drive provides a Whopping 15GB and 7GB on Microsoft SkyDrive.
For now, you can enjoy the free beta version and hope for a better insight on the iWork and iCloud when apple unveils its new iPhone on Sept 10th.