Tue, 20 Aug 2013 iWork '14 release date rumours: When will the next version of iWork launch?

iWork - Apple's productivity/office software suite for Mac, comprising the Pages word processor, Numbers spreadsheet package and Keynote, its presentation software rival to PowerPoint - is getting on a bit. The last full update came back in 2009 - although Apple has made regular minor updates to the suite. When will the next version of iWork launch?

The last version of iWork for Mac - Apple's answer to Microsoft Office - was released more than four years ago on 6 January 2009. Since then the company has introduced versions of the apps for iOS, and added compatibility with iCloud, but apart from that Apple's office suite has been untouched.

Apple hasn't made any official announcements about iWork '14 (or whatever it ends up being called), but there are some clues and hints out there, not to mention a whole lot of rumours and speculation. In this article, which we'll keep updating regularly until either Apple releases a new version of iWork or the sun swallows up the earth, we scan the available evidence for clues to when iWork '14 will come out.

Keep checking back for updates and rumours surrounding the launch of iWork '14, or whatever Apple calls the next version of iWork.

So. When will Apple update iWork?

Pages '09, part of the iWork '09 software suite

iWork for iCloud

In fact there is an imminent iWork update that we know about: iWork for iCloud, which Apple has said is coming in the autumn of 2013. And it looks like it'll be free, too. But we're not sure how useful it's going to be. In our iWork for iCloud preview, we write:

"iWork for iCloud is an impressive technological achievement, but none of that matters a whit if the apps don't address users' actual needs. The main selling point of iWork for iCloud seems to be bringing the ability to read iWork documents to Windows, but to me, that's only a hat tip to a much larger issue: collaboration. It's great that Windows users can collaborate more easily on documents made with iWork, but what's missing is any mention of real-time, simultaneous collaboration. It simply didn't come up. At all. Which, when you think about it, is a bit shocking."

A little like Microsoft's Office 365, or Photoshop Express, iWork for iCloud is designed as a free, cut-down version of a showpiece software package that everyone will be able to access, but it won't offer the full iWork experience.

iWork for iCloud is slated for release this autumn, part of what we suspect will be a hefty raft of Apple launches.

iWork for iCloud preview: Collaboration is the missing ingredient

Microsoft Office for Mac 2014 release date, rumours and leaked images

iWork '14 release date

But when will the next desktop version of iWork be released? Well, for one thing Apple has left a longer gap since iWork '09 than after any other iWork suites: previous versions came out in 2005, 2006 and 2007. What's more, in the past iWork has traditionally come out at the same time as an iLife update, but when iLife was updated in 2011, iWork didn't get an update.

In other words, the next version of iWork is seriously overdue.

What about time of year? Apple usually releases new versions of iWork in January, shortly after trailing them at a press conference (iWork '09 was available on the same day as being announced). The only exception was iWork '07, which bucked the trend with a mid-summer launch.

People have been predicting an update to iWork '09 for years, but it's about time for an update. So while the first rule of Apple predictions is that nobody knows anything, based on what's happened before - a mug's game - we think January 2014, or very late 2013, could be the time.

Or it might not.

iWork '14 release: Apple hiring iWork designers

Earlier this year, in the run-up to WWDC 2012, we thought an update to iWork was imminent, when it emerged that Apple was advertising a number of positions in the iWork team, including, crucially, a bug tester.

Apple was advertising for 'imaginative and visionary' iWork designers in February 2013, and new job listings appeared in May, including a software QA engineer to "work on the next generation of Desktop, Mobile and Web application/services." This employee's focus was expected to be bug detection, among other things, suggesting they would be testing a new version.

iWork didn't get a new update at WWDC, sadly, but the hires strongly suggest that Apple is working on something new for iWork. That could just be iWork for iCloud, however.

Will iWork for iCloud replace other versions of iWork?

It is conceivable that Apple might continue its push on to the cloud by shifting its iWork efforts away from the desktop entirely, and never release another desktop iWork suite at all. But for the reasons mentioned above, we suspect not: there are good reasons why iWork for iCloud and iCloud desktop (whether '09 or a later vintage) will work well together. iWork for iCloud is intended to serve a different function: a collaborative tool rather than a creation-focused one.

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See also:

Pages 09 Review | Numbers 09 Review | Keynote 09 Review

iMac reviews | Mac mini reviews | Mac Pro reviews | MacBook Air reviews | MacBook Pro reviews

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