One of the most interesting things to come out of an otherwise rather uninspiring Macworld Keynote was the announcement of iWork.com. The service is a typically Apple way of allowing users to work on iWork files collaboratively over the interwebz. What isn’t typical Apple though is the way they are allowing people to use this service for free (it will obviously have a subscription fee at a later date) whilst the service is in a ‘beta’ stage. Does that seem a little strange to anyone else? It does me.
Well, at least it did until my mind wandered back a few months. Does anyone remember Mobile Me? I ask as I’m quite possibly the only person that persevered through the utter tripe that was the service up until just a couple of weeks ago when it all magically started working.
When Mobile Me originally launched, the service simply didn’t work. Much complaining by existing .mac subscribers plus the slating it was getting from people on the trial lead to Apple giving the service away for much longer than they intended. The fee for my account is only just going out this week, and I’ve been using it since it was first switched on ! This, I’m sure, is why Apple have taken the unusual step of annoying something out and calling it a beta. The web apps don’t work ? It’s a beta. Files gone missing ? It’s a beta. Getting my drift?
It really does make sense, and at least shows that the guys from Cupertino might actually finally be learning from some of the mistakes o 2008.
Will you be using iWork.com?
Loading ...