“Apple has begun sending invitations to iCloud users to try out the new versions of the programs in its iWork productivity suite — Pages, Numbers and Keynote,” John P. Mello Jr. writes for MacNewsWorld. “The editions of the programs residing in the iCloud are in beta, but you only have to work with them for a little while to get excited about their potential.”
“The three office productivity apps join several other native Apple apps in the digital nimbus that let you share information like contacts, appointments, reminders, mail and notes across devices, whether Apple or otherwise,” Mello Jr. writes. “Cloud Pages is as enjoyable to work with as its box-bound brethren, and it’s certainly easier on the eyes than something like Google Docs… Numbers is the spreadsheet app in the iCloud iWork suite. Like its counterpart on other devices, it has a visual bent. Its templates, for instance, include many samples that mix graphics — bar, pie and area charts — with tabular material. Like other cloud apps in the suite, changes made to worksheets in the cloud will be passed along to their kin on the Mac, iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.”
Mello Jr. writes, “Although only in beta, the iCloud versions of Apple’s iWork suite still meet the needs of many users. Nevertheless, we can’t wait to see what the Cupertino posse has in store for us as it brings the apps to the finish line.””
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Apple’s iWork for iCloud beta seeded to consumers; brings iWork to Windows PCs; may be free, hurting Microsoft’s Office 365 – July 19, 2013
iWork, iLife appear in iOS 7 free downloads screen, corroborating theory of Apple apps going free – July 9, 2013
Computerworld first look: Apple’s iWork for iCloud beta is super-speedy – July 5, 2013
Tim Bajarin: Steve Jobs’ legacy lives on; Apple’s iWork for iCloud sets new standard for Web-based productivity tools – June 17, 2013
Hands-on with Apple’s new iWork for iCloud beta (with video) – June 14, 2013
I received an invitation and I am amazed at what they have done. It puts Google and Microsoft to shame. For Google to be a company so focused on the web (think Chrome OS), their products are an embarrassment compared to iWork in the browser. I agree that Apple’s web services have not always been stellar, but they got this right.
Agreed. It’s next gen stuff!
I go to Google Docs because of it’s sheer accessibility. Both in that I don’t need to worry about where/when I saved it, but also in that they are just simple to use. For me Google Docs makes desktop applications just look slow, bloated and complex.
I want iWork (and iCloud) to meet and beat this standard.
iWork in the cloud is as all Apple products the bar and standard that Google and Microsoft will never get. Unrivaled esthetics, look, feel, functionality and user friendly/intuitive interface, without peer.
Trying it out…I cant believe all that is happening in a web browser.
I have tried them. Albeit briefly. They look AWESOME.
But I worry. Apple does not usually kick-ass when it comes to web apps. Are these too heavy? Google-spy-Docs are work brilliantly well for me. Simple, functional, light. Apple has some big ground to cover here. I hope iWork on iCloud does not fall flat.
I got an invitation to try it out, clicked on the link, and came to a page that told me how to set up iCloud on my iPad. Couldn’t get any further than that.
Was it from you iPad? Maybe iWork in the cloud is only supported on the “desktop”?
It must be accessed from a desktop (not Internet Explorer) as it includes features such as drag and drop to import files.
Already using it for several weeks – left behind the apps on my desktop. Here’s the thing, it is not that exciting to use at first because it works almost exactly the same. You simply forget you are using the browser version. Then eventually you remember what is happening – and that you have access from ANY computer and you are blown away!
Rdiddly, same experience here. I received the email invitation; I tried multiple times on iPhone & iPad to access the iCloud login screen and was always redirected to the iCloud set-up page. I already have an iCloud account, and I was able to login successfully to see the beta versions on our home iMac, but I’d really like to try the betas in their mobile versions. Solutions, anyone?
“iWork in the Cloud” is for non-iOS devices (basically, desktop computers). It’s meant for you to be able to access your iWork documents while not at your normal work computer.
If you have an iOS device, you can buy native iWork apps for $10 each, which is very cheap for what they’re capable of. I’m sure Apple would prefer you buy the native app as mobile browsers probably aren’t powerful enough to run these web apps yet.
This is not meant for iPhone or iPad. Sign into iCloud using a Mac or PC with the latest version of Safari, Chrome, or IE.
Michael, JimR: thanks for your explanations!
This is designed for the “Google is getting better at design faster than Apple is getting better at web services” crowd. The iCloud iWork Suite absolutely buries Google Docs.
“we can’t wait to see what the Cupertino posse has in store for us as it brings the apps to the finish line.”
“California posse”?? Hello? I like his enthusiasm. But his writing. Not so much.
I don’t recall seeing an invite but when I go to iCloud.com the betas are available. I tried opening a presentation I had previously made on the OS X version of Keynote. Worked well. As I recall something minor was missing.
As an Apple developer I’ve been testing it since some weeks now – just amazing. Very good job. Hope to get new offline versions as well. The hyphenation of Pages for the German language is a disaster since 2009. No update at all!
Hopeful it will temp more Windows users to make the change.
I used Pages to do a multi-page report on my PC at work running Windows 7. I was surprised how quick response was in the web brower. Fact is, I experienced no delay whatsoever when writing the report. This experience was totally unlike other browser-based applications.
Pages and Numbers in the cloud still have a few kinks that Apple is working out, but these are apps that will help drive Microsoft Office off the cliff.