iWork takes on MS Office

Apple's iWork surpassed Corel's WordPerfect Office to become the second leading productivity suite in the US in 2005, behind Microsoft Office. CNET News.com reports Apple grabbed a 2.7 percent unit share, while Corel had a 1.6 percent share: Microsoft maintained its dominance with nearly 95 percent of unit sales. "Apple's share is particularly impressive considering that iWork runs only on Macs, which account for a small fraction of computers, said NPD analyst Chris Swenson. "Apple's success for iWork has been pretty surprising," he said. Among Mac users, market researcher NPD said that Apple took 17.4 percent of the market, while Microsoft's Office accounted for virtually the rest of the unit sales. "Apple's iWork didn't overtake Microsoft Office, but I think taking almost a fifth of the Mac Office Suite market away from an entrenched competitor such as Microsoft is quite an accomplishment," Swenson said. Earlier this month, Apple announced an updated version of iWork '06.

by MacNN Staff