Job posting reveals Apple’s plans for extending iWork services with cloud computing

Dec 28, 2009 09:05 GMT  ·  By

Apple is looking for a software engineer knowing their way around with browser technology, scalable Internet applications and word-processing development, a job posting reveals. Apple is no stranger to cloud computing (MobileMe) and has already introduced the concept in iWork via iWork.com in January. The service, introduced as a beta, allowed users to upload iWork '09 documents onto the web for online viewing, notes, comments, and more.

iWork is an office suite of productivity applications designed and developed by Apple. Tailored specifically for the Mac OS X operating system, the first version of iWork ('05) bundled Keynote (a presentation program that had previously been sold as a standalone application) and Pages (a combined word-processing and page-layout application).

Later, in 2007, Apple released iWork '08, adding a new spreadsheet application – Numbers. iWork.com was only introduced in iWork '09. A beta service, iWork.com allows users to upload and share documents online with others from within Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. Users can simply click the iWork.com toolbar icon and log in using their Apple ID to upload a document and invite others to view it.

AppleInsider points out to a TechCrunch report saying that, on its CrunchBoard job board, the company behind the Mac operating system posted an interesting job description. The text is reproduced below.

The Productivity team (i.e. iWork) is seeking an energetic, highly motivated software engineer in building a scalable rich Internet application. The person will be part of the core development team and engage in an area from design to development of the software system.

Besides exceptional programming skills and devotion to creating great software, we look for one or more of the following kinds of expertise or experience:

• JavaScript language and browser technology – understanding from inside-out, or • Computer graphics – the mathematics, algorithms and programming, or • Experience developing scalable rich Internet application, or • Experience developing presentation/collaboration or word processing projects.

BS or better in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering.