Is it a good time to buy iWorks?

[mghostsoft]

Hello,

I'm considering about getting iWorks, since I found iBooks Author is extremely easy to use. But the current version iWorks is '09, and I'm not sure if I can get the next big update (e.g. iWorks '12) for free. Do you have any ideas?

Thank you!

 

[James_C]

The new version of iWork has been due for some time and certainly it is in the works as some of the transitions being used in recent Apple Keynote presentations are not in the currently shipping iWork Keynote product. However Apple never talks about future software (or hardware) release timeframes so no one really knows when the new version is going to be released. I suspect that iBook Author is one of the reasons that the new version of iWork is delayed.

It is long overdue not least because the current version does not have proper iCloud support yet, and many people expected it to be updated when iCloud came out last year.

As far as upgrades are concerned, Apple normally only allows free upgrades to software once it has formally announced, but is not yet shipping the new version.

 

[mghostsoft]

The new version of iWork has been due for sometime and certainly it is in the works as some of the transitions being used in recent Apple Keynote presentations are not in the currently shipping iWork Keynote product. However Apple never talks about future software (or hardware) release timeframes so no one really knows when the new version is going to be released. I suspect that iBook Author is one of the reasons that the new version of iWork is delayed.

It is long overdue not least because the current version does not have proper iCloud support yet, and many people expected it to be updated when iCloud came out last year.

As far as upgrades are concerned, Apple normally only allows free upgrades to software once it has formally announced, but is not yet shipping the new version.

Thank you. I am expecting iWorks '12 will be released within half a year.

 

[PeggyD]

I've been expecting the next version of iWork (no 's') "any day now" for nearly two years. I wasn't surprised to not see it in January, 2010, but was expecting it when iLife '11 was released in the fall of 2010. Then when the Mac App Store went live, then when Lion was released, then when iCloud went live, then … you get the picture. There was an update to take advantage of Lion features but nothing to take advantage of iCloud.

If you need it, buy it.

 

[wy328]

if you need it for works then buy it
if you can wait half year, you can get iworks'12
i dont think apple caould give you a free update from '09 to '12

 

[mghostsoft]

Thank you. I'm not badly in need of iWork, since I have Microsoft Word and I don't use word processers very often. But I just think it would be regretful if I don't have iWork installed. I'll wait for iWork '12, if not '13, '14... Thank you!

 

[jackc]

It sure seems like they've abandoned it. I hope there's a new one soon though.

 

[jlc1978]

It sure seems like they've abandoned it. I hope there's a new one soon though.

I don't think they've abandoned it; they did after all update it for Lion. It's a pretty robust set of applications that meets most user's needs that don't want or need Office; so it's probably low on a priority list. My guess would be the next big update sees more of an iCloud - cross device integration with maybe some new features aimed at enhancing the iBooks experience; for example, animation creation, the ability to create smart keynote presentations with drag and drop, hotspots, etc. Think HyperCard but in Keynote.

 

[Xandros]

Of course, why update an application that already has most of the functionality required by 95% of people using it. iWork '09 suits me down to the ground for instance, since I only use Pages anyway for writing, and if a new version came out I wouldn't bother upgrading to it. As such I suspect the lack of a new release has been more of a "it isn't broken so we're not fixing it" approach from Apple rather than abandonment or low priority issues.