Apple's iWork '11 suite tracking for release alongside Mac App Store
The next major revamp of Apple's iWork productivity suite is finished and ready to go, but the company may hold back the release until it gets around to launching the Mac App Store early next year, AppleInsider has been told.
Context & Ripple Effects
iWork has been on a slow cadence: the last major update, January 2009's iWork 09, was an incremental refresh, so a finished '11 build represents roughly a two-year gap in the suite's cycle. What makes the timing interesting is where it might land: rather than shipping through retail boxes as before, AppleInsider sources say Apple could hold the release until the Mac App Store opens in early 2011.
That would put iWork '11 head-to-head with Microsoft, whose next Mac Office with Outlook was slated for late 2010 under the traditional shrink-wrapped model. Reader analysis circulating this week also suggests Apple's own Mac App Store titles may carry iPad-style $15-20 pricing — if that holds, iWork would enter the storefront as both a marquee first-party showcase and a price disruptor against Office.
First-order effects
- Buyers deciding between productivity suites face a fork: Microsoft's Outlook-equipped Mac Office 2011 arrives now at conventional pricing, while a reportedly finished iWork '11 sits unreleased pending the Mac App Store's early-2011 opening.
Second-order effects
- If Apple prices its own apps near $15-20 in the store, Microsoft's boxed Office economics on the Mac come under direct pressure from a cheaper, store-native rival — forcing a response on either price or bundling.
Third-order effects
- Using a flagship first-party suite as a Mac App Store launch title would signal that curated app-store distribution, proven on iOS, is becoming the default channel for desktop software — squeezing shelf-based retail out of the productivity category.
The trend: Desktop software distribution is shifting from boxed retail to curated platform-owned app stores, with first-party titles serving as the launch showcases that set consumer price expectations.