Apple Announces 'iWork for iCloud' for In-Browser Use

At today's WWDC keynote event, Apple announced iWork for iCloud, a new version of iWork that is coming later this year and delivering the ability to use iWork apps in the user's browser. iWork in iCloud brings Apple's iWork software suite to the web, and on stage, the company demonstrated Keynote, Numbers, and Pages operating in a browser window.

iwork

The apps are also designed to work seamlessly with Microsoft documents. For example, a Microsoft Word document dragged into Pages for iCloud will be converted and easily read.

In addition to working on iOS and Mac, iWork for iCloud also works on Windows computers and in other browsers, like Chrome. In fact, it supports Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer, bringing iWork to a broad array of devices.

iWork for iCloud is available today for developers and will be offered to other users later in the year.

Top Rated Comments

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JohnDoe98

86 months ago

Was I hearing things, or did he also say that they'd be releasing new desktop versions of the iWork apps later this year?

You heard right, new versions coming later.

Rating: 10 Votes

AppleMark

86 months ago

So with iWork for iCloud, you will able to start working on one document and then the US government [through PRISM, or another data harvesting method] can read it on another.

No thanks.

Rating: 5 Votes

~Shard~

86 months ago

Very much looking forward to a new version of iWork later this year. Long overdue!

Rating: 5 Votes

badlydrawnboy

86 months ago

Was I hearing things, or did he also say that they'd be releasing new desktop versions of the iWork apps later this year?

Rating: 5 Votes

MikhailT

86 months ago

My concern is this, the upcoming OS X app won't get any new features, it's just being updated to support the iCloud improvements but nothing else. That's why they didn't demo anything.

As for PRISM concerns, yea, that's true for any data services. You'll have to stay offline to avoid PRISM.

Rating: 4 Votes

yojo056

86 months ago

Im surprised about this one. There was an iWorks in the Cloud beta that ended almost 2 years ago...

Rating: 4 Votes

thefourthpope

86 months ago

I'm so *********g sick of docs in the cloud. Roughly every third time I open one of these apps on my iPad it sits spinning waiting to update (wi-fi at home, work, wherever), says I can't open the file because options have changed, that formatting is different from the desktop version, or that it has to make a duplicate copy. That last one is the most annoying; I end up with three versions of the same Keynote and have to flip through or remember which one was the one that I did change. Just give me back that damn iDisk/Dropbox option.

Glad to hear they're coming out with new desktop versions. Hopefully they'll actually play with the iOS ones.

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Can someone explain how iWork for iCloud can support IE if no version exists for the Mac platform? Are they saying it will support IE if you are on a PC?

Yes. That seems to be much of the point of the online option: you can use it on any compatible browser, regardless of the platform.

Rating: 2 Votes

bigwig

86 months ago

I hope the new desktop versions add much needed functionality. Like Numbers being rather incomplete when it comes to Excel function support. LibreOffice is much more complete. ODF support would be nice too.

Rating: 2 Votes

unplugme71

86 months ago

You heard right, new versions coming later.

sweet!

Rating: 2 Votes

hovercast

86 months ago

I had the same question too. Who will they get people to pay for it? Subscribe to a web site? So it seem like it would have to be free

But then if this is free why would anyone buy the desktop apps? Maybe the entire suite is going to be free now.

BTW, I just finished my first "real" or "serious" work g=using Google Docs and I was very impressed with the way it let's three people all edit the SAME documant at the same time. There is a chat window and we could post things like "second to last paragraph is weak, I'll fix it, got any ideas?" and then we can all watch each other make edits in real time.

Google Doc is free, Apple has to compete with a very good free product and with Office too. How to do that? Offer a better free product that even runs in Windows PC. I think Apple is aiming to kill Office. Maybe in 5 or 10 years??

You still need the desktop apps to edit offline.
So if its free, someone with a cheap windows computer who is too poor to pay for office can just go to icloud and use iwork for free. This would be awesome!
It has the potential of disrupting the MS office cash cow.

Rating: 1 Votes

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