Want to download a trial version of Apple’s iWork apps? Tough. Apple just pulled them, replacing the page on its site with a notice sending you over to the App Store: “The trial version of iWork is no longer supported. But you can easily purchase Keynote, Pages, and Numbers from the Mac App Store to start creating beautiful presentations, documents, and spreadsheets today.”
Translation: Everything – and we mean everything, will be going through the App Store from now on.
And that’s not all. As well as nixing iWork trials, Apple did the same for Aperture a couple of weeks back. This isn’t such a big deal for the iWork apps at least, as they cost just $20 on the App Store. It also cuts down on easy piracy, as serials to convert the trial versions to full versions were readily available .
Does this have any deeper meaning? Could Apple be on the verge of announcing demos and upgrade pricing for the App Stores? Is it just wiping the slate clean ready for a new iWork suite (which will surely be needed for Mountain Lion and iCloud compatibility)? Or is it just what it appears to be – the moving of all Apple software to the App Store? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
[Via Mac Stories]
