Apple makes iWork for iCloud available to everyone

It seems that Apple is making its online office software iWork for iCloud available to everyone. In addition, the company would no longer oblige anyone to have an Apple device. Apple probably wants to compete with competitors Google and Microsoft.

9to5 Mac reports this on Friday. That site discovered that the recent beta site of online storage service iCloud shows a banner that Apple suggests users to try the web version of iWork. It is therefore necessary to have an Apple ID.

With iWork for iCloud, Apple offers a competitor to the online office software from Google and Microsoft. The package includes Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. If you try iWork for iCloud, you get 1GB of iCloud storage for free. It is not yet clear whether this is a one-time action or whether Apple will also make the service free for the regular iCloud version.

Until March 2012, the online office software iWork was a separate service from Apple. Since then, the software has belonged to iCloud, Apple’s cloud storage service. It supports file sharing between connected devices such as a Mac, iPad or iPhone.