"iWork is doing pretty good," said , an NPD analyst. Sales "volume is growing."

Despite working only with Macs, iWork held 10.5% of the overall North American retail market for productivity software last year, said Baker.

Microsoft Office held virtually all of the remaining market share, due to its domination of the still far-larger Windows platform.

But both suites face strong, free challengers in the form of an and IBM's

Baker applauds Apple's move as a consumer-friendly one. "I think Apple is less concerned about piracy than ease of use," he said.