Neil HughesAccording to the NPD Group, iWork 2009 sold 50 percent more units in its first 11 months on the market, from January to November 2009, than its predecessor, iWork 2008, sold in the same frame. iLife 2009, during the 11-month frame, sold about the same number of units as iLife 2008. iLife is included with all new Macs.
Both can also be purchased along with the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard upgrade in a $169 box set for a single user, or $229 family pack. Volume increases for iWork and iLife do not include the bundle pack sales.
But the strength of Snow Leopard has helped the box set to have strong sales as well, Steven Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD, told AppleInsider.
"These have been, I think, pretty successful products for them (Apple), generating a lot of pretty decent average selling prices and decent revenue numbers," Baker said.
In addition, the single-user license box sets for iWork have been a big seller for Apple. iWork and iLife are available separately with a $79 single user license for each, or a $99 family pack that can be installed on up to five computers.
When it debuted in August, Snow Leopard retailed for just $29. The lower pricing strategy has proved well for Apple
"They've been pretty successful, obviously, with being more aggressive in pricing," Baker said. "Certainly that was a big reason why Snow Leopard got such a big uptick right off the bat."
At launch, Snow Leopard saw sales twice as strong as its predecessor, Leopard, and four times better than Tiger. In addition, Apple's new operating system only saw sales decrease by 25 percent in its second week. For comparison, Leopard and Tiger saw sales drop more than 60 percent in the week following their launch. In the company's earnings report in October, Apple officials noted they were "pleasantly surprised by the early success of Snow Leopard.
Christine McKee
William Gallagher
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107 Comments
Larger user base = larger numbers sold.
Simple statistics.
That said, I still like iWork much better than Microsoft's Office.
I hope they continue to update iWork to be better compatible with MS Office, though.
I'd personally prefer of the next OS was $149 and bundled iWork into the OS.
I've grown up using Office, of course, so I've just never seen the need to switch to iWork, even as I've become a Mac user exclusively. Why switch when I already know Word/Excel inside-out, forwards and backwards?
The current version of Word is really great, in fact. The addition of source management over the last couple versions has been a godsend.
Part of the equation is also that both versions (single license/family pack) are $30 off, no rebate, when you buy it at the same time you buy a new Mac. This deal is available through both the online store and Apple?s retail stores.
This is only 1/3 of the normal price of the cheapest version of Office.