Apple Debuts iLife '08, New iWork
Further solidifying its move into the applications business, Apple on Tuesday debuted iLife '08 and iWork '08, which now includes a spreadsheet application like many had predicted.
The entire iWork '08 suite received updates, including better support for images as backgrounds and more themes to Keynote, its presentation program. Pages also got new templates. However the big news was Numbers.
Numbers is the answer to Microsoft's Excel, a move that many had been expecting for months. The files are importable and exportable to Excel, and are designed to work with the other two applications, much like Office already does.
"Numbers rounds out the iWork suite, which is far more intuitive and easy to use than anything else out there," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said.
However, the biggest difference between Office and iWork is the price: it retails for $79, far cheaper than its competitor. The application will be available beginning today.
iLife '08 updates included enhancement to iPhoto which now intelligently splits photos by events through using the dates and times on the pictures. Users can merge and split those pre-sorted events as needed.
"Apple has taken iLife '08 to a new level that is years ahead of anything available for the PC," Jobs said. "We think iLife '08 gives Mac users even more reasons to love their Macs, and PC users even more reasons to switch."
iMovie is also completely redesigned, allowing users to produce a five minute movie in as little as a half-hour. iWeb now allows users to sign up for Google AdSense accounts, as well as minor updates to both GarageBand and iDVD.
With the new updates to its applications, Apple also pushed an update to .mac called the "Web Gallery," which allows users to publish photos and video from iPhoto and iMovie to the web quickly and easily.
".Mac Web Gallery is an awesome way to share photos and movies on the Internet with friends and family," Jobs said. "You can share your favorite photos and movies with anyone on a Mac, PC or iPhone, and they can turn them into high-quality prints as well as contribute photos to your site using a web browser or email."
"All in all, nice evolutionary updates that keep the entire suite of apps king of the hill for the creative consumer," JupiterResearch senior analyst Michael Gartenberg said.