Microsoft is changing its approach when it comes to some of its most iconic products – the productivity suite of Microsoft Office apps. Cross-platform seems to be they keyword these days, and that’s why the Redmond-based company has made its most notorious software tools available for free for iPhone, iPad and Android tablet users. And now it seems that Apple is ready to counterattack this move by making iWork on iCloud available on any device.
You can now go on the updated beta.icloud.com website and create an Apple ID, if you didn’t have one yet. There, you will see a top bar notifying visitors that anyone can now use Pages, Numbers and Keynote. As a reminder, you should know that Apple made Mac OS X free along with iLife and iWork back in October, 2013.
I don’t own any Apple devices, so this has been my first experience ever with anything related to Apple, and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised. The Apple ID registration itself seems to show that Apple cares about the security of its customers, as it suggests you to use a stronger password and asks you to select answers for 3 security questions.
And after I have completed all this and logged in, it sent an email to my inbox, informing me of the date and time, as well as the browser and OS which was used to access my account. An IP address wouldn’t have hurt, either, but still, this is much better than most of similar services.
During the registration process, you might encounter the “iCloud has stopped responding” error, but eventually you should be able to connect. Also, you need to know that if you register through the iCloud portal, you will receive 1 GB of storage, as only those with an iOS device will get 5GB of free storage.
Moving on, I must say that the interface is nicely designed, being really pleasant to the eye. Creating pages in the Pages app is, as I already expected, pretty straightforward. The same goes for Numbers and Keynote apps, but, of course, it takes a little time to get used to it. The Coaching Tips are definitely a big help, that’s for sure.
Thus, anyone with a modern operating system and web browser can take advantage of Pages, Numbers and Keynote completely for free as you no longer need a full-fledged iCloud account. So, if you had enough of Microsoft Office or Google Drive, why not have a look at how Apple’s productivity tools behave? I did and I am definitely not disappointed.