As expected, Apple releases iWork '09 at Macworld Expo
During today's Macworld Keynote Phil Schiller announced the immediate release of iWork '09. We previously reported this was fairly likely given the slip-up over at Apple.com. The updated version of iWork is definitely more evolutionary than revolutionary.
Keynote
The first new feature of Keynote are the "Magic Move" transitions. Essentially, you set up your slides and Keynote automatically animates your objects and moves them from slide-to-slide. Additional text and object transitions have been added as well. For example, the text from one slide can morph into the text on the following slide.
The Theme Chooser has been updated as well. It now allows you to easily and quickly view and apply a theme as well. The Theme Chooser also makes it easy to quickly apply a particular slide size. The 3D charts and graphs have been updated as well to include additional textures and new animations.
The killer new feature in Keynote is the introduction of the Keynote Remote application for the iPhone or iPod touch. Using Wi-Fi you can view your slide as well as notes on the slide wirelessly from your iPhone or iPod touch. If you rotate your device into a landscape orientation you can view the current slide as well as the next slide. In true touchscreen form you can swipe your finger across the screen to advance to the next slide.
Click the read link for more information about iWork '09.
For full Macworld Expo coverage, bookmark the TUAW Macworld Expo 2009 landing page. If you missed our liveblog coverage, you can review it here.
Pages
It's now possible to "work without distractions," because Pages features a full-screen view for complete focus on writing. If organization is more your cup of tea, than you will be happy to know that Pages now features a new outline mode. Collapsible topics and drag and drop re-organization make it easy to outline quickly and efficiently.
If you send out newsletters or other mass-mailers, than the mail merge integration with Numbers will be right up your alley. It's now possible to create custom documents that sync addresses from table in Numbers or from your Address Book.
Similar to Keynote, Pages now features an enhanced Template Chooser with the goal of making it easy to preview and re-size templates. Pages also includes integration with MathType for easy equation composition, and EndNote for quickly choosing and inserting a citation from over 3,800 bibliographic styles.
Numbers
Everyone was pretty excited at the release of Numbers in iWork '08 and while it may not be the most fun application to use, Numbers geeks will be pleased with the new features. The most-asked for feature is the addition of new formulas and functions. As a result Numbers now includes over 250 new functions for wetting your spreadsheet whistle.
Additionally, "table categories" have been added to Numbers. If you are familiar with pivot tables in Excel then the idea of this feature is pretty obvious. Essentially you can now group categories of rows or columns for the purpose of summarization.
Charts has received an update in the form of additional charts as well as the ability to link charts between Numbers and Pages or Keynote. The appearance of the data can be dynamic between the documents while keeping the actual data linked.
iWork.com
Phil also announced today the availability of a new beta service "iWork.com." The focus is on sharing documents rather than online collaboration. The idea is to easily show off your work to friends and colleagues without having to worry about what platform they are using or whether they have a particular application installed.
In addition to hosting the files in the cloud, iWork.com allows users to download the file in either iWork, Office or PDF format for offline viewing at a later time. It is also possible for viewers of your documents to leave time-stamped comments on the documents they are viewing.
While iWork.com requires iWork '09 it is not bundled with the application. Currently the service is a free, public beta; however, when it is officially launched there will likely be some sort of fee for the service. If iWork.com is not bundled with MobileMe in its final form I would really like to see some sort of online collaboration/editing for this service to really be a value.
iWork '09 is available now as a free 30-day trial or you may purchase it from Apple online or in-store for $79 ($99 five-user family pack).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Peter said 3:38PM on 1-06-2009
Ahh, but does the darn thing auto-save like every other sensible office suite in existence?
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Rafe H. said 3:53PM on 1-06-2009
Yes it does. Temporarily enable it with Command-S.
kieran said 3:49PM on 1-06-2009
Noticed a typo in iWork 09'. When you open an app you get a welcome screen but at the top of the window it says welcome scree. Missing the 'n'. How did they not spot that? lol
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jobbogamer said 3:52PM on 1-06-2009
Mine just said "Welcome Scr"!
Schell said 3:52PM on 1-06-2009
Downloaded and purchased.
I have to tell you, the full screen view in Pages was what sold me. It is incredible (much better than Writeroom, Bean, Scrivener, etc, etc). The rest is just gravy.
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Stephen Lang said 3:53PM on 1-06-2009
Full screen view + outlining FTW!!!
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dan said 3:54PM on 1-06-2009
I just installed the trial version to test this very thing.
It has no fricking auto-save!!!!
BAD APPLE!!
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kieran said 3:56PM on 1-06-2009
I'm using outline now and it is great. My school project has a very specific layout with headings etc and this enables me to lay everything out before I get started. Full screen is also awesome!
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BHendrix said 4:05PM on 1-06-2009
No upgrade pricing for iWork '08 users? :-(
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Adam Strasberg said 4:33PM on 1-06-2009
The killer Pages feature for me -- you can now save as a Word document, no more need to export everything. Though I can't seem to find save as (or export to) RTF, did Apple get rid of that?
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Allen said 5:45PM on 1-06-2009
The "killer new feature" in Keynote that allows you to use your iPhone as a remote would BE a killer new feature if it worked with bluetooth! Wifi is not always available when you're out doing presentations.
Apple is good at having one foot forward in front of competitors when it comes to innovation... Then "shooting that same foot off" by restricting/ preventing the obvious!!!
iWork '09--- whoopee...... no thanks.
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Corgy said 6:23PM on 1-06-2009
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the remote feature work over ad-hoc WiFi?
daba said 6:03PM on 1-06-2009
Is there a difference when buying full programes (like iwork'09 & ilife'09) compared to upgradeing them? Are there two different products to buy?
Apple said US$79 upgrade... that exchanges to NZ$132,
then why is apple selling the programes in nz for nz$179?
can anyone help?
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Chris Deke said 7:01PM on 1-06-2009
The outside-the-US tax. Same thing here in australia. Identical product, 20-30% markup over direct currency conversion from the US.
It sucks, but neither of our countries have the market clout for them to care.
Jason said 6:42PM on 1-06-2009
Is it really true that Keynote Remote costs $0.99? (I don't see it in the store yet, assuming it's under that exact name.)
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Rudy said 6:49PM on 1-06-2009
is there a a reduced price if you're upgrading or you do you have to pay like everything else?
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tom said 11:32PM on 1-06-2009
i just got a new macbook and my mom got me iwork 08 there are these little coupon things in the box for software upgrades do i have to now go buy the whole new i work or do i have to pay
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Chris said 3:40AM on 1-08-2009
If your mom got iWork 08 in the last 30 days I believe you can get iWork '09 for free.
Maple said 11:38PM on 1-06-2009
Asked about upgrade and what if you just purchased a Mac Dec. 25th...
Well the education pricing in Canada for both is $71, regardless of upgrade or recent Mac purchase :o(
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NSUser said 11:53AM on 1-07-2009
Unfortunately, the news is even worse: the Canadian pricing has increased for iWork '09.
The retail price is $99, and the education pricing is $89.