Apple Shutting Down iWork.com on July 31 Amid Transition to iCloud
Apple today sent out an email to users registered for its iWork.com beta noting that it will be discontinuing the service as of July 31. The discontinuation comes as Apple places its focus on iCloud, which offers users ways to keep documents in sync among their various iOS devices.
Dear iWork.com user,
Thanks for participating in the iWork.com public beta.
Last year, we launched iCloud, a service that stores your music, photos, documents, and more and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices. Today, there are already over 40 million documents stored on iCloud by millions of iWork customers. Learn more about iCloud.
With a new way to share iWork documents between your devices using iCloud, the iWork.com public beta service will no longer be available. As of July 31, 2012, you will no longer be able to access your documents on the iWork.com site or view them on the web.
We recommend that you sign in to iWork.com before July 31, 2012, and download all your documents to your computer. For detailed instructions on how to save a copy of your documents on your computer, read this support article at Apple.com.
Sincerely,
The iWork team
iWork.com launched as a free beta in January 2009, with Apple eventually intending to offer the service with tools for collaboration on iWork documents for a fee. The service never exited beta, however, and with iCloud offering new options for moving documents around the company has decided to eliminate the program. But while iCloud does offer a number of new features, it does not offer the level of collaboration tools envisioned for iWork.com.
The elimination of iWork.com will come a month after Apple officially shuts down its MobileMe services. Apple has continued to support MobileMe since the introduction of iCloud last year in order to give users time to move over to the new service. But as of June 30, MobileMe and several of its features such as iDisk, Gallery, and iWeb publishing will no longer be available.
Popular Stories
Apple's "Let Loose" event kicks off today at the unusual time of 7:00 a.m. Pacific Time, and we're expecting to see an iPad-focused event with new iPad Pro and iPad Air models, updated Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard accessories, and perhaps some other announcements. Apple is providing a live video stream on its website, on YouTube, and in the company's TV app across various platforms. We...
Apple today unveiled redesigned iPad Pro models featuring the M4 chip, Ultra Retina XDR OLED displays, a nano-texture display option, and more. The new iPad Pro offers a considerably thinner design and slightly larger 11- and 13-inch display size options. The 11-inch model is 5.3mm thick and weighs less than a pound, while the 13-inch model is just 5.1mm thick and weighs a quarter pound less ...
Apple today announced that iOS 17.5 will be released to the public "soon," following over a month of beta testing. While the software update is relatively minor, it does have a few new features and changes, as outlined in the list below. "The new Pride Radiance watch face and iPhone and iPad wallpapers will be available soon with watchOS 10.5, iOS 17.5, and iPadOS 17.5," said Apple, in its...
Apple will be holding its first event of the year this Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube. How long will the event be? In his newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the video will have a runtime of "around 35 minutes." Apple is expected to announce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models, along with updated Apple Pencil...
While the iPhone 16 series is still months away from launching, an early rumor about an all-new iPhone 17 model has now surfaced. In a research note with investment firm Haitong this week, analyst Jeff Pu said Apple is planning a so-called "iPhone 17 Slim" model that would replace the Plus model in the lineup. Pu said this model will feature around a 6.6-inch display, a slimmer design, an...
Apple at its "Let Loose" event today announced a new Magic Keyboard for the latest iPad Pro models, with a thinner, lighter design. Apple says the Magic Keyboard has been redesigned to be thinner and lighter, while maintaing the same floating design. Two colors are available that match the new iPad Pro. New features include a function row with screen brightness controls, an aluminum...
Apple is expected to announce iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, and new features have already been rumored for many apps, including Apple Music, Apple Maps, Calculator, Messages, Notes, Safari, and others. Below, we recap iOS 18 rumors on a per-app basis, based on reports from MacRumors, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, and others: Apple Maps: At least two new Apple Maps features are...
Top Rated Comments
Obviously since you cannot access iWork beta from Pages, Numbers & keynote after July 31st, sounds like an update to remove iWork and add iCloud will FINALLY be coming!
It's so stripped down and not very functional compared to google and more or less ms office
Not everyone has Lion.
Sincerely,
Your customers
--------------------
Seriously, my MBA is owned by my employer, who does not want to upgrade to Lion. Despite my telling them that it's an easy upgrade (and I'll pay for it) they don't want the possible headache of incompatible software.
If apple would make iCloud work with Snow Leopard, this would be acceptable. I mean, iCloud works with Vista for crying out loud.