Why must I pay for 3 copies of iWork? One for iPad one for MBP and another for Mac mini???

If you bought your Mac version from the Mac App Store you can install on both the MBP and the Mac mini using the same Apple I.D. That is not automatic however you have to log into M.A.S. and choose to install Pages on the separate Mac.

You have to buy an iPad version separately because it is a different iOS version and not the same software despite sharing the same name.

Peter

Hi Kenneth,

iWork for iOS doesn't exist as a package, so for the iPad you bought one or more of the three iWork applications: Pages for iOS, Numbers for iOS and Keynote for iOS,

These are available only from the app store, and you are licensed to install them on any supported device attached to the same Apple ID app store account. iOS applications require iOS, the operating system used on iPhone, iPad and iPod devices. iOS does not run on the MBP or the Mini, so these are not 'supported devices'.

iWork '09 could have been purchased as a boxed retail product, supplied on an installer disk, or as a downloaded thirty day trial, later converted the the 'full' product by purchasing and applying a licence registration number. These packages include the Mac OS X versions of all three iWork applications, and would have been purchased under either a single-user, single-machine licence (allowing installation and use by only a single user on a single machine—the licence allows for transfer to a different machine or to a different user, or both, but not for conccurrent installation on more than one machine or concurrent use by more than one user), or unde a Family licence (allowing installation and use on up to five Macs, all owned by members of the same family, living under the same roof).

Or the individual iWork (Mac) applications could have been purchased from the Mac app store under a licence similar to that for the iOS versions.

Bottom line:

1. You needed to make separate purchases for Pages for iOS and Pages (Mac) because they are different applications and run on different platforms. (If you were using MS Word, for example, as your word processing application, you would need to, for the same reason, purchase separate versions to use on your Windows PC and on your Mac.)
   
2. You do not need to purchase separate copies of Pages for the MBP and the Mini IF your original purchase (of iWork) included the Family licence; or if your original purchase (of Pages (Mac) ) was through the Mac app store, AND both the MBP and the Mini are registered to you under the same Apple ID Mac app store account.

The complexity of the Mac licencing arises from the changing model of software sales. Early purchasers of iWork '09 (eg. me) had only the choice of a single user or a family licence. Current purchasers can choose to buy only the applications they need from the set, or all three (for a lower price than the full iWork package under a single user licence), and automatically get the less-restrictive licence.

Regards,

Barry

I just bought this software, (09) on my Mac largely because of a line in the sales copy that read "Buy it ONCE and have it available everywhere" or something very closely approximating that. It is very misleading. No reasonable person would assume the result would then be a need to purchase the software again on these other devices after reading that.

Either I misread or misunderstood something with this purchase. Either way a cursory review of the forum makes clear that if the misunderstaning is mine to accept I am not alone in that misunderstanding and it should be made more clear that separate purchases are required.

Apple makes many misleading statements, mostly I presume to make it sound simpler than it really is.

They have made quite a mess of the many methods of purchasing the iWork apps for both OSX and iOS, but as it currently stands you can purchase the OSX versions from the Mac App Store and the iOS versions from the iTunes Store then install them on as many of your devices as you like using the same Apple I.D.

If you have been mislead, and you are only one of many, then you can choose to take it up with Apple and/or your Consumer Affairs representatives in your country.

Apple usually covers for itself in the small print somewhere however. You probably could make a case if they prominantly state what you say in writing somewhere before the point of purchase with no accompanying qualification. They made a similar false claim with iCloud on OSX Lion, but it has subsequently been removed since Mountain Lion came out and our local Consumer Affairs Office chose not to pursue it.

Peter