Apple announced Tuesday that its full iWork suite has been released as hybrid apps that work on iPhone, iPod touch, as well as iPad. The suite, comprised of Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, were originally released as iPad apps only, and the hybrid versions mean that users can use the apps on any of Apple’s iOS portable devices.
Keynote, Pages, & Numbers
“Now you can use Keynote, Pages and Numbers on iPhone and iPod touch to create amazing presentations, documents and spreadsheets right in the palm of your hand,” Philip Schiller, senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing for Apple, said in a statement. “The incredible Retina display, revolutionary Multi-Touch interface and our powerful software make it easy to create, edit, organize and share all of your documents from iPhone 4 or iPod touch.”
iWork is Apple’s office suite. Introduced first on the Mac, it was one of the marquee apps released for the iPad’s launch to help demonstrate what was possible with Apple’s then-new media tablet. Keynote is a presentation app, Pages is for word processing and document design, and Numbers is Apple’s spreadsheet app.
While almost all iPhone apps will run on an iPad in emulation mode, iPad apps will not run on iPhone and iPod touch. Hybrid apps are designed to run natively on all three devices without requiring the user to purchase separate apps.
In addition to the hybrid functionality, the updates add other improvements, including a new document manager and other app-specific user-interface enhancements.
Patch notes for each app:
Pages
- Universal app designed for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
- New document manager to easily sort your documents and organize them into folders.
- Ability to change font style and size directly from the ruler when editing text.
- Smart Zoom for viewing and editing data.
Numbers
- Universal app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
- New document manager to easily sort your documents and organize them into folders.
- Improved usability including Smart Zoom for viewing and editing data.
Keynote
- Universal app designed for iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
- Keynote Remote app (sold separately on the App Store) to control your presentation from another iPhone or iPod touch.
- New document manager to easily sort your documents and organize them into folders.
The hybrid updates are all numbered version 1.4, and are available now on the App Store. Some users may not initially see the new versions when doing a search for the apps, but The Mac Observer found that clicking through to the apps (or using the direct links above) shows the updates on the app’s listing.
Each app is priced at US$9.99. Owners of the iPad versions will find the updates available to them through the update function in iTunes.
According to Apple, all three apps are compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), and iPad. They require iOS 4.2.8 or later.