Some Of Apple's Non Native Apps Could Become Free Downloads In iOS 7
July 9, 2013
It looks like many of Apple’s non-native apps are going to be free. In the third iOS 7 beta, a screenshot has been uncovered that suggests Apple’s iWork suite, plus iPhoto and iMovie, will soon be available for absolutely nothing, according to 9to5Mac.
Since at least iOS 5, when a user enters the App Store following an operating system update, they are presented with a popup message. From this screen, users are able to download apps such as Podcasts, iBooks, and iTunes U.
In the current iOS 7 beta, that screen now includes links to iPhoto, iMovie, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. As you can see from the screenshot above, each of these is available “Download gratis.”
We don’t know, of course, whether this feature is set to arrive with the final version of iOS 7. However, as 9to5Mac notes, it does make a lot of sense.
Apple is currently beta testing a new iWork for iCloud service. When this is made available to the public, users will be able to create and edit free documents via a Web browser. Subsequently, these documents will be available via Pages, Numbers, and Keynote via Mac or iOS.
They state:
Apple could offer the free iCloud web app versions of iWork in addition to the paid downloads on iOS, but free versions of the iOS apps would be major draw for selling hardware, especially as Google continues to grow its free Drive offerings and Microsoft is rumored to bring its Office productivity tools to iOS.Pages, Numbers, and Keynote currently cost $9.99 each in the App Store. Apple sells iPhoto and iMovie for $4.99 each. All apps are universal. It will be interesting to see what happens as we get closer to the final iOS 7 release. As usual, we’ll keep you updated. In the meantime, see: Apple Should Remove These iOS 7 Features And Designs, and Could Offline Dictation Be Heading To iDevices In iOS 7?
