iOS News ahead of WWDC: iWork Updates for iPhone and iPod

[Jeremy Dorn]

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2011/05/31iwork.html

 

Pages, Keynote, Numbers.

 

Now iPhones and iPods can get full access to iWork '09 and iWork iOS create files. Personally I'm happy that Numbers is making its way over. Keynote is also something I'm sure people have long wanted to have on an iPhone for presentation uses, plug in the Phone to the projection system and have your iPad for walking the stage.

 

Reading through the descriptions of updated Apps I also noticed that these apps can now sync with WebDAV servers to download and upload files. From an education standpoint this should have been in there from the start but is welcome none the less. This means that assignments created in these Apps can be synced wirelessly with a teacher computer or class shared folder.

 

In addition iPads and other iOS devices can transfer iWork documents between each other without needing a computer. File management Apps like GoodReader or iFile have WebDAV server hosting options that iWork can see. Take two students Bill and Joe. Bill can write a draft in Pages, Joe then turns on his GoodReader's WebDAV share, Bill uploads his draft to Joe's iPad. In a larger group project one student could even leave their iPad in WebDAV mode and act as a host for the collaborative work.

 

In my personal opinion the only thing still missing is the ability to send iWork documents to other Apps such as GoodReader or iFile through the "Open In..." system. At the very least the PDF export should have this option. It would also be nice if the iPad or iPhone could go into Ad Hoc WiFi mode so you don't need to tether or have a portable WiFi hotspot to connect two iOS devices over WiFi.