iWork for iCloud - a shot across Redmond's bows?
12 June 2013
In all the coverage of Apple's WWDC keynote address, the announcement of iWork for iCloud has barely been mentioned. Its announcement on the WWDC stage received a fairly muted response, too. Which is understandable, given the audience - it's not a developer-focused product.
Casey Liss1 on the Accidental Tech Podcast talks about how Apple "really came out swinging" at its competitors in the keynote and that, in the iOS 7 presentation, Apple seemed to see Microsoft and Windows 8 as more of a threat than Android.
I got the same impression from watching the announcement of iWork for iCloud - especially the emphasis placed on the ability to edit native Word files. It seemed like the iWork announcement was intended to be a shot across the bows of Microsoft, for whom the Office suite of products is still a core asset, rather than any sort of move to compete with the likes of, say, Google Docs and Google Drive.
I can't help but wonder if the iWork announcement isn't intended by Apple as some sort of counter punch to Redmond's move into computer hardware with the Surface.2, 3
UPDATE: Looks like I was right - 2 days after I wrote this, Microsoft announced Office Mobile for iPhone (the timing suggests that Apple took the chance to preempt Microsoft's announcement).
I very much doubt that it changes everything, but for different reasons than those given by John Moltz. I think Microsoft's missed a significant opportunity by releasing Office for the iPhone, but not the iPad - it's on tablets, not phones, where people are going to want to create Office documents.
It looks like Microsoft is sacrificing the ubiquity and relevance of Office in the interests of its new Surface tablets. Which looks an increasingly risky move on the back of news of a $900 million write down by Microsoft on unsold Surface RT stock.
1. At least I think it was Casey - it's their 17th podcast (so no introductions), but my first time listening.
2. Microsoft's Surface v iPad commercial will have aired too late to factor into any decisions by Apple regarding the iWork suite, but show that Microsoft sees the old rivalry between the two firms as alive and well.
3. Interestingly, though, the WWDC news wasn't all bad for Microsoft; Apple announced a real coup for Microsoft with the news that Bing will now power Siri in place of Google.