RolandoJan 15
Jason Snell

Just posted on Six Colors: Apple’s pro bundle makes sense, but making iWork freemium doesn’t

https://sixcolors.com/post/2026/01/apples-pro-bundle-makes-sense-but-making-iwork-freemium-doesnt/

Apple’s pro bundle makes sense, but making iWork freemium doesn’t

iWork apps: Transforming from free to Freemium. The Apple Creator Studio subscription bundle announced earlier this week makes sense. We live in a world where Adobe’s Creative Suite and Micro…

Six Colors
Jan 15 at 4:48pmWeb
Show threadDenisJan 15
@jsnell I had a similar thought when I heard about this. I’m worried that Apple is going to add upsell messages everywhere into the iWorks apps, and possibly put future features behind a paywall.
Show threadStéphane MoussieJan 15
@jsnell Perhaps the reason Apple charges for new iWork features is that they are powered not by Apple Intelligence, but by OpenAI. There's a mention of this at the bottom of an image.
Show threadJason SnellJan 15
@Stephmouss yes, it's unclear how many of them are powered like this but I suspect that's what's going on here
Show threadAmsterdam EricJan 15
@jsnell Well said! I am a huge Pixelmator fan but this bundle feels weak, and it cheapens the works-out-of-the-box promise Apple has always made with their alternative-to-Microsoft apps. Not a tragedy, but a bummer.
Show threadadrienJan 16
@jsnell Much like the business model of Affinity, I absolutely *love* the idea of companies upselling/pay-walling AI features; I would pay extra to *not* have slop in my apps, so it’s a win-win!
(for now…)
Show threadadrienJan 16

@jsnell “Users of Numbers will be able to have access to Magic Fill, which lets them “generate formulas and fill in tables based on pattern recognition.”

OMG the fallout from this will be sad and hilarious.

Some fool will trust made up numbers…
then some other fool will approve them with Copilot!

Show threadDaniel GomesJan 16
@jsnell Agree 100%
Show threadbjf123Jan 17
@jsnell If I’m going to have to pay for the iWorks apps, I might as well just subscribe to Office, which most of the world uses. I like having the iWorks apps for home use, but I’m not going to pay for them.
Show threadJason SnellJan 17
@bjf123 they're only charging for some AI features, not the whole thing
Show threadbjf123Jan 18
@jsnell Thanks. For my home needs, don’t really need much AI. It’s mostly simple spreadsheets and documents. Haven’t had to do a Keynote in years.