Apple Reveals New iOS 7-Style Icons For iLife And iWork, GarageBand To Go Freemium
October 21, 2013
Apple have all but confirmed the imminent arrival of its iOS 7 updates to its line of iLife and iWork apps for iOS.
Earlier today, a revised Built-in Apps webpage for the iPhone 5s was posted by Apple. The company has since reverted to the webpage's former content. But the short time in which the amended webpage was available to view was more than enough for the Apple community to take note of a couple of important things.
First, there are the apps' new iOS 7-style icons, with those for GarageBand and iPhoto having made appearances in some iDevice users' Settings app. And second, GarageBand is going to be free to download in the App Store, following iPhoto, iMovie, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, all of which have been made available for free for iOS devices activated on or after Sept. 1, 2013.
But unlike the other apps in Apple's iLife and iWork suite, GarageBand is going to be freemium, that is, it's going to be free with in-app purchases for additional instruments and sounds. As noted by MacRumors:
Licensing fees associated with some of those sounds had been the presumed reason why GarageBand was left out the original move to make Apple's iLife and iWork apps for iOS free of charge, and it appears that the company has settled on in-app purchases as a way around this issue, offering basic functionality for free and then premium content through the paid upgrade options.The revamped iLife and iWork apps are expected to be unveiled by Apple at its special media event on Tuesday, Oct. 22, in which the company is also expected to launch new iPads, new Macs, OS X Mavericks, and the next-generation Mac Pro.