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Some sellers of second-hand iWork'09 specify that their product is "Retail", and show the original packaging. Others don't, but the pictured DVD seems however being the same.

My question is: were there non-retail DVDs and what did they look like? Or are all white DVDs with Apple's and iWork install DVD logos necessarily retail ones.

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  • There were only retail versions of iWork '09 (MB942Z/A) available to the public. Any copies (if they existed) were bootleg and most certainly not retail, nor authorized. I am speaking solely of discs available in the US. Some iWorks '09 DVDs are sold, (on eBay, for example,) without the packaging, which appears in images as a white DVD in a paper/plastic sleeve.
    – IconDaemon
    Jan 19, 2022 at 13:38
  • @IconDaemon: Thank you. Your answer my question as I wanted to confirm that the white DVD sold in paper/platic sleeves were retail ones and not versions tied to a specific machine.
    – OuzoPower
    Jan 20, 2022 at 14:47

2 Answers 2

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  • The non-retail DVD were placed inside Mac boxes before sale or given away without payment.
  • The retail DVD had packaging to be sold on a store shelf.

Typically the printing on the DVD was visually different with more gray and white in the non-retail disks and more color on the retail plastic. Also, not for retail versions may have been given to employees or press to evaluate the software without a paid taxable transaction occurring and the associated bookkeeping Apple had to perform as a merchant.

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  • Thank you for your answer and especially the visual description. I assume the non-retail DVD looked more or less like the Mac OSs grey color non-retail reinstallation DVDs at the time of Snow Leopard?
    – OuzoPower
    Jan 20, 2022 at 14:45
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    Correct @OuzoPower the coloration was similar to the last year color or same color each year as Apple came out with new hardware for the NFR but occasionally the full color ones were labeled and dropped in. In fact, we would often have to open all the boxes in the store and swap out discs on occasion. It wasn’t always the same, but typically it all cycled together. Supply chain delays were harder before everything was digital.
    – bmike ♦
    Jan 20, 2022 at 16:29
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You don't actually need a DVD. It was eventually released as a free download, which is still hosted on Softpedia - https://mac.softpedia.com/get/Business/Apple-iWork-06.shtml#download
Apple themselves no longer host it anywhere I can find.

Once installed, it should then allow updates as normal.

I've heard no reports of it working after El Capitan in 2016, but it was OK up til then.

Since 2013, all the individual iWork apps have been free to download on the Apple Store, so if you have a newer Mac you don't need the old version first to enable the 'purchase'.

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  • Thank you. I was aware of this, but I usually prefer an official DVD to be sure not getting some possibly pirated software with spyware or like. It would possibly be different if Apple had published hashes (checksums) of the ISO. Unfortunately on OS X 10.14 Mojave the softwares from iWork apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynotes) can no longer be installed from the App Store. They are still listed, but when trying to install, an error popup requiring Mac OS 11 shows.
    – OuzoPower
    Jan 20, 2022 at 14:54

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