Apple’s insight has revolutionized the way we compute, listen to music, and speak to each other. By removing serial numbers from the iWork ‘09 suite, they will revolutionize the way we distribute and use software next.
Units Sold = Old Thinking
By lifting the anti-piracy software that comes with the iWork bundled package, the individual serial code typically associated with any piece of software, Apple is just begging students, teachers, professionals and amateurs to copy and share the suite. In a world where “units sold” drives revenue and value, this is near blasphemous. Why would Apple roll out the red carpet for software piracy?
Byte-for-byte, suites like Microsoft Office have far deeper market penetration and will continue to dominate this area. The answer to the previous question lies in MobileMe and iWork.com. Apple, knowing their software has an inferior position in the market, needs to create an advantage either in the software itself or in the perceived value of the software.
Storytelling iWork.com
Apple is selling the story of compatibility between Mac’s and PC’s to share web-based documents. They are painting the picture of integrated relationships between the Mac-user, PC-user and the Web. The advantage of iWork isn’t in the software. It isn’t in the thousands of “units” that will be sold to upgrade corporate computers across America. No, Apple’s advantage is distinctly being created through web-based document creation/sharing.
Innovative Marketing
It is far more valuable for Apple to obtain a 20% market-share of a fee-based service like iWork.com than to spend resources trying to compete in units sold with the likes of Microsoft. By removing the anti-piracy efforts, they are assuring themselves that the software will get into the hands of as many Apple users as possible. This will..
a) Prove to users, through the use of the software, that the iWork product is not inferior in quality to Office. And..
b) Allow for the iWork.com fee product to draw from a much wider base of potential users, which creates an opportunity for the entire Apple line to continue a growth explosion.
As word of the iWork.com product grows, so too will the sales of the iWork suite. Apple can chalk the lost sales to piracy as part of their 2009 marketing budget while innovating the way we approach the distribution of and use of software.
Pure marketing genius.
I’ve been using iWork since its inception and have been very happy with its results. I have upgraded every year and haven’t bought another version of MS office since my first iWork copy. The great thing about it is that I’ve still spent less for multiple versions of iWork than for one version of office.
I think that the more people that try iWork, the more likely they are to buy it. By not requiring a serial number Apple is opening a door for privacy, but hopefully it won’t be on a large scale as the $79 price tag allows a low entry price point. Having said that, students or others on a budget that try it for “free” will likely buy it down the line.
I’m interested to see how and if I’ll use the online features of the new version.
J. makes an excellent point – for the early piracy loss, how many of those users will ultimately transfer to paying customers once they have experienced the product? With an affordable price tag, it may be more than you would initially think.
As John mentioned in another thread, the day of the $400 business suite is quickly coming to an end, and we have some good, old-fashioned competition principles to thank.