Apple announces iWork: Keynote 2, Pages form new package

Replacing the aging AppleWorks package with a release that lacks a spreadsheet application, Apple has announced iWork, which consists of two applications: a presentation tool, Keynote 2; and a new word processing tool, Pages.

Apple says Pages sports "advanced typography," multiple columns, footnotes, tables of contents and styles, as well as dynamic text wrapping and alignment guides. Also included is an iLife media browser that lets users drag and drop photos from the iPhoto library directly into documents. 40 Apple-designed document templates ship with Pages.

Keynote 2 improves upon the original with with slide animations to synchronize the movement of multiple objects, real-time animated text, and image masking. Like Pages, it includes the iLife media browser for insertion of photos, movies and music directly into presentations. Keynote 2 also allows the use of a second monitor to display upcoming slides, notes and a timer.

iWork '05 imports AppleWorks and imports and exports Microsoft Word and PowerPoint files. Keynote 2 now includes the ability to export presentations to Macromedia Flash.

iWork will not ship with any new Macs, but will be available on January 22nd at a price of US$79.

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