It may be winter , but that ’s not stopping Apple from glean what it can with its beefed - up iWork ’ 08 productivity suite . And that ’s a smart move for the companionship , psychoanalyst say , because when the next version of Office have its long - awaited debut next calendar month the Microsoft offer should easily keep back its grip on the office productivity market place for the Mac .
Microsoft Office has long been the dominant instrumentalist when it come to suites that offer word - processing , spreadsheet , and presentation tools . But two factors have converged that make Office ’s hold on the market appear vulnerable .
First , it ’s been more than three years since Microsoft release Office 2004 . In the intervening year , Apple has change to Intel processors to power its hardware , and most gamy - profile apps have been rewritten to head for the hills natively on Intel - base machine . situation stay the highest - visibility exception .
secondly , Apple has ramp up the insistence on Office by revamping its own office productiveness suite , iWork . This summer , Apple unveiled iWork ’ 08 . In addition to adding more word - process feature of speech to its Pages page - layout app , Apple also introduce its new Spreadsheet tool , Numbers . Those ware , combined with the already well - regarded Keynote presentation , turn iWork into a suite that could match what Office had to pop the question — with the added welfare of the software coming directly from Apple .
According to NPD Group , Apple ’s attempt with iWork have pay off . The vamp suite has captured 16 percent of the office productivity lotion sales on the Mac , with Microsoft ’s Office taking the rest . While that shape is “ a success for Apple , ” NPD says , the market - inquiry firm does n’t feel that number is sustainable once Office 2008 arrives on the Mac .
Microsoft has foretell that Office 2008 will transport on January 15 , 2008 . in the beginning , Microsoft plan to have the update productivity entourage out by the second one-half of 2007 but bump the release into 2008 , reference a “ perfect violent storm ” of component that hampered developing try .
So why is Office 2008 expected to keep on the large market portion enjoyed by its predecessor ? Because the interracial feelings Mac users might have for Microsoft do n’t needfully carry to the company ’s products , say Chris Swenson , director of software industriousness depth psychology for NPD .
“ A spate of customers are felicitous with their version of Office , ” Swenson said . “ That does n’t mean that iWork is n’t doing well , but it ’s hard to can Office that ’s been there for so many years . ”
Despite the increase of a spreadsheet app to iWork — or even the existence of substitute suites likeNeoOffice — Microsoft Office continues to enjoy its condition as the default spot productivity suite for the Mac . For many company , particularly those in multi - platform environs , the choices for countersign - processing and spreadsheet applications rarely extend beyond Microsoft , according to Swenson .
“ It ’s not so much about buying a cheap product or buying Office , ” he add up . “ It ’s ‘ Do I keep using the existing translation of Office or do I upgrade ? ’ Microsoft is essentially competing against itself . ”
Alternative suites could attempt to compete with Microsoft on price . The full reading of Office 2008 will be $ 400 , with upgrades available for $ 240 . In contrast , iWork ’ 08 sells for $ 79 .
However , Microsoft also plans to offer a $ 150 Home and Student Edition of Office 2008 . And , Swenson total , the fellowship does a right job of cutting the price of these version of Office at critical selling times to maximise sales . Indeed , Microsoft iscurrently offeringa free version of the Special Media edition of Office 2008 to anyone who buys the Standard or Teacher and Student versions of Office 2004 .
The sales campaign has been part of an fast-growing on-line effort on Microsoft ’s part to advertize Office 2008 . The troupe has already determine up aninformation siteto tout fresh features in the upgrade . Among the features promoted at the Office 2008 situation are the suite ’s revamped toolbox , a raw Ledger Sheets peter in Excel for handling common task with pre - formulated cellphone , new templates and vogue for Word and PowerPoint , and an updated calendar port in Entourage .
“ Office 2008 is going to be a successful product and its going to take the air out of iWork ’s tires , ” said Swenson .
Not that Apple necessarily sees iWork as an Office Orcinus orca . When the company released the update suite back in August , executives said the goal was to make applications that offered a Mac - similar approach to tasks such as word of honor - processing and spreadsheets .
“ [ Some the great unwashed ] want to enjoy the way they work , they want their workplace merchandise to front great , and [ they want to be ] fundamentally integrated into iLife ” Rob Schoeben , Apple ’s vice president of lotion product selling enjoin Macworld in August . “ If you buy into all that , that ’s going to be appealing . ”
Apple is n’t the only major developer offering an choice to Office . In the past year , Google has bolstered its slate of on-line applications , though , like Apple , the search - engine giant insists it ’s not reckon to take on Microsoft and Office .
That ’s just as well , NPD ’s Swenson said . “ We ’ve seen zero impression with these software package as a service software , ” he added . “ For things like office apps , we fight to find any significant percentage of the great unwashed that use them . ”
