14 DAY TRIAL // Multiple findings indicate Apple is ready to ship the next major release of iWork, the company’s productivity suite of applications for Mac OS X. Also available as a scaled-down suite for the iPad, iWork 11 will likely be a Mac-exclusive release alongside (or better yet, within) the upcoming Mac App Store.
With January 6 confirmed as the official launch date of the Mac App Store, 9to5mac claims to be hearing from a few Apple Store employees that “there is no iWork on the shelves, no iWork in stock and none on the way”.
The Apple Search page also autocompletes iWork ’11, while TUAW points out that iWork ’09, the current version of the software, was released last year on January 6th.
Apple has historically been fond of one-year cycles for refreshes to its entire product range.
Furthermore, it is known that Apple advertised individual iWork application downloads for the upcoming Mac App Store via its typical promo materials.
Many high-profile blogs and tech publications (including Softpedia) have expressed a common belief that the January 6 launch will make a perfect “excuse” to introduce the updated suite.
Apple’s iWork suite is comprised of three applications - Pages, Keynote, Numbers. Pages. As suggested in the past, the three applications will likely be sold for $19.99 each.
There’s more.
In what can be considered hard evidence of the updated suite’s existence, a YouTube video depicting a conversation with an alleged Apple staffer add further credence to the rumor (if we can even call it a rumor anymore) that iWork 11 is on track for an early January release.
The video (embedded below) shows the purported Apple store employee indirectly advising an Apple fan to hold off his iWork 09 purchase, stay put, and wait for iWork 11, as it will be out soon.