Apple’s iWork Is So Underrated

Apple can be beaten for not shipping AirPower but they should be praised for shipping iWork. Apple’s iWork is so underrated. The latest update to the venerable Apple’s version of this office suite is particularly delightful to use. This software is probably the best embodiment of Apple’s software vision of what great applications should look and behave on iOS (maybe after GarageBand). Apple never stopped updating iWork which is not the case of many other software from Apple. One example of this is iBooks Author. With every major iOS release each fall, iWork follows closely to take advantage of the latest operating system features.

Out of Page, Numbers and Keynote, the latter is the one I use the most. Numbers comes second. In the last update, Keynote saw major improvements to the way we setup transitions and animations from slide to slide. The following screenshot shows an example of setting animation on a slide transition.

Collaboration features which Apple is continually improving with each release are also great examples of simplicity. This feature is so useful that Apple is rumored to make it available as an operating system level API that can be used by other applications developers. I can’t wait fo see how other applications will integrate them.

Should we consider Apple as a cloud company. Many think not. This couldn’t be so far from the truth. Let’s say we put aside iTunes Store, the App Store and Apple Music, and iCloud.com, all cloud services spanning the globe. iCloud.com is an ad-free rich web service that just works like a charm. It gives access to most iWorks features of the iOS or macOS counterparts. You start to work from home on your iMac, then commute to your office and keep editing your presentation on the train then arriving at the office where only Windows PC are available, you can still continue over the web using your browser. It all just works seamlessly. And this stuff is just free.

I’m not saying iWork is the best office suite. I love what Microsoft does with MS Office too. They are the king of the hill. But I consider iWork to cover 80% of people’s needs when it comes to creating simple documents. And above all, iWork is free.